Mintccino
by PokeDopes
Summary: Mint is a Minccino with mint-green fur, hence his name. Being a different color makes your life tougher; bullies pick on you; other Pokemon insult you; and bad rumors about you are made. All Mint wants is to fit in and be accepted. Things change when he finds a strange stone, but is this life change for better or for worse? M for language, violence, and just to be safe
1. Mint Green Minccino

**Mint Green Minccino**

Unova, one of the many regions in the Pokemon world. A region of many rich landscapes and cultures. Within the lush and dense Pinwheel Forest, a couple colonies of Pokemon live together in harmony and help each other grow. Living among these colonies, is a single Minccino with oddly colored fur. Born 19 years ago, he lives a rather difficult life due to his strange fur coloring but has made the most of it.

This Minccino's name is Mint, his parents thought it would be a good idea to give him this name due to his fur color. They've told him that his fur color is unique and special, so he should be proud and feel great about himself. This is not the case, Mint has very low self-confidence and self-esteem issues due to constant teasing, bullying, and being left out of activities with his fellow Minccino. Due to this, he's grown up to be very shy and becomes anxious in almost any social situation that doesn't involve him with someone he knows.

Today is just another day for Mint… being bullied by his own kind over something he's heard to no end: his unusual fur color. The same old ordeal he's been dealing with since he was 12. The two Minccino who are bullying him are notorious for being rude and nasty towards anyone who is slightly different than the rest. Everyone knows who they are yet there is one thing that's ironic about them. These two Minccino are girls, but then again, the gender ratio of Minccino is an odd one. 1 male to 3 females. These two girls are Rachel and Patricia, and they constantly pick on Mint because nobody steps in to stop them because they all don't want to seem like they're defending the oddball of the group nor do they want to be picked on themselves.

"All Minccino have grey fur. The only other fur color that's ever been seen is pink and there aren't any of those living around here." says Rachel.

"Yeah. How can a Mint-Green fur color exist if all normal Minccino have grey fur? You're not a real Minccino then! If you had the shiny pink coat, then you'd have a pass but no, no Minccino has ever had such an ugly fur color like that before!" says Patricia.

Mint stays silent, it's what he knows best after all. The two girls move in closer to him and he backs up. They get right up in his face.

"How come your parents haven't disowned you? The only Pokemon that are allowed to live in our part of the forest is Minccino and Cinccino, and you aren't either of them. I bet your parents see you come home every night and think, 'here's the degenerate excuse for a son we have walking into the nest again.' I guarantee they lie about loving you so you don't feel sad about yourself." Rachel further insults.

This is a potentially nerve hitting blow, mentioning his parents is a very touchy subject for Mint as everyone knows that they had a rough time with their relationship over the last few years. His mother had made a decision that nearly ruined it. Another Pokemon had fallen for her and she began to see him in secret and his father had caught them. Ever since the incident, they've been somewhat indifferent towards each other. Luckily for Mint, they still kept loving him no matter what.

This, however, is just more fuel for the fire. "I wonder if your mother fucked a Metapod or a Pansage in order for you to have the fur color you have? It's the only logical explanation I can think of." she says, before shrugging and continuing. "Unless of course, you have the answer to that question?"

She looks him dead in the eye. His cheeks are red with embarrassment and he looks towards the ground away from her, continuing to stay silent but secretly getting angry with her. She cracks a smile for a split second before taking a step back. "Figures. You don't know how to respond. You're a mute, a mute! Do you even understand what we're saying to you? Perhaps we need to talk in a language you'll understand."

She clears her throat and Patricia joins in. "**Your mother's a dirty hoe that gave birth to a hybrid abomination of a Minccino who can't even stand up for himself. What a sad little baby he is, running home to his mommy and daddy to get his diaper changed!**"

His eyes shoot right in their direction now and his expression changes. For the first time in a while, he says something to them. "...you… you take that back." his tone is quiet and low. They've clearly gotten through to him now.

"What's that? I couldn't hear you!" Patricia puts her paw up to her ears. "Speak up or shut up!"

Mint doesn't repeat himself and instead, lashes out at her and whips her in the face with his tail by using "Tail Slap", the signature move of any and all Minccino. It leaves a nasty red mark and she stumbles back a bit. Rachel catches her to prevent her from falling over, it was a very powerful hit!

Mint's glowing white tail stings and pains him due to the sheer force he put into the attack, but he doesn't let it bother him and he speaks. "T-take back what you said about my mom! She made a t-terrible mistake and promised to never do something like that again!"

Rachel and Patricia look at him in slight disbelief and shock. They didn't expect him to attack because they thought he'd never have the guts to do so. Rachel glares daggers at him. "How dare you hit a girl! Shame on you!" she yells.

He yells at her in response. "I-I said take back what you said about my mother!" this grabs the attention of a few other Minccino nearby who look at the direction of the shout to see what's going on.

Patricia stands up and rubs the spot she was hit, fuming about it. "You're going to regret that you mute baby! Step forward if you think you've got something to prove about not being the little impudent rodent that you are!"

Mint still has his attack active and he bashes the ground with his tail, kicking up a bit of dust. As much as a fight would shut her up and make her fear him, he wouldn't hear the end of it from his parents. The three Minccino stare at each other and a few others from outside close in to see what's about to happen. Mint knows that he could easily beat the shit out of both of them with his eyes closed, but is it worth the nasty earful his parents would give him later on?

Patricia bares her teeth and growls before speaking. "What are you waiting for, coward!? Fight me! You don't want me to call your mother a hoe? Fight me then!"

This further angers him. If there's one thing he absolutely despises from the bottom of his heart, it's those who insult or attempt to hurt the ones closest to him although he decides it's not worth the time and effort to go toe to toe with them, the nasty red mark he left on her face is enough. "I'm not fighting you, you're not worth my time Patricia." he stops his attack. "Let that be a warning… for the next time I hear you talk about my parents like that, I'll put your face into the dirt and make you eat it."

He starts walking away to calm down but Patricia has other plans. "Coward! Get your ass back here!" she clenches her paws into fists. "Your whole family is a trainwreck! Without you, they wouldn't be together and you'd be dead by now! You're the only link that's keeping that cracked up excuse for a family together! Your mother's a big fat hoe who fucks anything that's green like the filthy slimeball she is and your father's a weak ass pussy with a small dick! No wonder your mother cheated on him! Why don't you go kill yourself since you have no purpose in this life!?"

This stops him right in his tracks. Patricia's angry expression turns into a cocky smile, she's got him now. She waits for him to turn around but he doesn't. He stands there, silently looking at the tall trees and the path ahead. Patricia waits for him to turn around, she's ready to run at him the moment he does. Everyone around them watches, ready to break it up if it starts. Even though it was a low blow, Mint simply takes a deep breath, lets it out, and keeps walking. This surprises her. She growls lowly and begins to curse him out. Rachel decides to take her away from the situation and get her checked out after that nasty tail slap to the face. It was a very close call, but Mint avoided beating them into the ground today. As he walks towards his home, he tries his best to not let tears fall from his face as the words they said root themselves into his mind.

Rachel and Patricia know nothing about the problems he's had in his life while at home, and they only add to it. There is one thing that they said was true, him thinking about off-ing himself, ending his life. He hasn't though, he had many chances to do it in the past and instead of going through with it, he kept going because of his parents telling him things would get better. He doesn't want to dwell on the thought of suicide so he hopes that the calming air of the path leading home would be enough to steer his mind away from it. Luckily for him, his parents had chosen a place to live that was a little bit out of anyone's way and provided easy access to the rest of Pinwheel Forest if he or they should need it.

Not far from his home is a Sewaddle colony. Much of the Pokemon there are infinitely more welcoming of an oddball compared to his own. Even though he frequently visits, he has no friends there because if he were to bring any of them into his own colony, it would just cause more problems. There is also a Cottonee colony not far from his home too, though he's visited it only a few times as they don't really have much to accommodate normal visitors and would rather do business and trading than talk and have fun.

The path to his home is full of lush, dark green grass and tall trees whose tops cannot be seen. The grasses and leaves sway and dance in the gentle breeze who wishes to keep the calm atmosphere of the place intact. Mint slowly walks down the path, his ears drooped down a bit. He isn't proud of what he had to do, but he hopes that both of them will learn their lesson otherwise he'd have no choice but to really fight them the next time they saw him.

"_Why does it have to be me, huh? Why couldn't I be normal like everyone else? I just want to be like them, normal, proper, and appreciated. Nobody else here has fur the likes of my color, yet I'm the same Pokemon as the rest of them so why do they all hate and belittle me?_" he thought to himself.

He doesn't realize that in a patch of grass to his right, a rather peculiar stone lies eagerly waiting to be discovered. He walks past it, head held low, eyes half open, and holding back tears. He's a bit upset over the whole chain of events that had gone down moments before. It isn't long before he reaches the den that he calls his home. There isn't anything special about it besides the fact that his parents had dug out the surrounding landscape to make a rather decently sized cave.

The front of the den has a few drapes over it to act as a door. The den itself is as plain as can be, there's a makeshift table of sticks with small blots of grass for chairs situated around it, A few leaves near the table, one of which has a decently sized pile of many different berries, a bunch of fishing supplies to the left of these leaves, a few small buckets of fresh water, and finally, three differently sized grass beds in the back for sleeping. Mint walks in to see his parents cleaning up the floor and walls as usual. It is said that most Minccino prefer a tidy habitat, and Mint's parents are no exception to this. His mother, Emilia, looks up from what she's doing and notices that he's back, as well as his very obvious sad expression.

"Mint… you seem more upset than usual, did something happen…?"

He looks at her for a moment before answering with a monotonous voice. "... I slapped Patricia in the face because she called you a hoe. If it was anything else I would've let it slide."

She looks at him, surprised for a few moments but then frowns. "You didn't have to do that. I know you don't like it when the other Minccino talk bad about us, but you shouldn't ever hit someone."

He looks away from her, his cheeks puffed out a bit. "She deserved it, 7 years worth of pain right back at her. I hope she learned her lesson."

Mint's father, Ross, overhears this and speaks up. "Mint, you should never lay a finger on anyone unless they do it to you first. You could've been attacked in defense and beaten up. You know how the other Minccino in our colony aren't the most understanding or accepting of you."

Mint crosses his arms. "I don't care if the whole colony came after me, she called mom a hoe and you a pussy. How do I not do something after someone says something like that?"

Ross shakes his head. "You just have to stay silent. Pay them no attention."

"And let them walk all over you and mom? I won't stand for that! I don't care about being walked on, I've been dealing with it for 7 years and I'm no longer affected by it but I won't allow them to do that to either of you." he says, rather frustrated.

Emilia walks up to him and begins to brush him off with her tail. "Listen, Mint…. We don't want anything bad happening to you. You might be one of the strongest out of all the young Minccino in the colony, but don't let that go to your head. If it was you against everyone else, you would lose faster than a Magikarp can use splash."

Even though he doesn't want to be bothered, Mint can't help but accept what his mother is doing to him and his eyes start to close a little. "But… but I don't want them to talk bad about you or dad…" he yawns.

She speaks in a calm, soothing tone while fixing the loose fur on his head. "Don't worry about them. Just know that everything is okay and one day everyone will realize that they should've made friends with you instead of insulting and talking down to you. Remember: you are one of a kind, nobody else in this forest has such gorgeous fur nor do they have its brilliant color. They're all envious of you and wish to have what you have."

His father adds to it. "Exactly. Keep your head held high and ears perked straight up. They'll all want a piece of you and you'll have your pick of the litter. YOU will be the one telling them what they can and cannot do, so don't let their words get to you, they mean nothing."

Emillia finishes grooming Mint and gives him a big hug and an equally big smile. "Now c'mon! Throw away that sad face and look forward to what we're having for dinner: a bountiful harvest of rare berries! Your father worked really hard to trade for them and he said that every single bit is worth it!"

He smiles slightly. "...Alright, I'll be happy to eat some berries, it's been a long time since we had them anyway. It would be a good change for once and it's miles better than being bullied."

* * *

**PD: Hey! This is a solo story I thought up while playing through Pokemon Sword. Tis a shame the game isn't as great as we were hoping it would be but there's always next time... ANYWAY, let me know what you thought of this chapter. Leave a review if you like but nothing overly nasty please! I also didn't know what to genre this story as so I'm keeping it as a drama until further notice. Seeya in the next chapter!**


	2. Father Son Outing

**Father Son Outing**

Early morning the next day, Ross had decided to wake up at an extremely early time in order to finish preparations for what he would be doing today. While most Pokemon in the forest would be asleep at this time, it opened up the perfect opportunity to bring a certain someone along for the ride especially since he had been waiting for this day for a long time.

The den is still and quiet with the exception of the sound of leaves and grasses being blown outside. Ross quietly gathers a few supplies that resemble that of a fishing pole and some bait in a bucket. Unlike humans, Pokemon can't use a regular fishing pole with a reel properly so instead, a very long line and a super long, strong stick or leek is used as a substitute. He places these things near the entrance of the den and then goes over to where Mint is sleeping.

He gently shakes him, talking to him in a quiet tone as to not startle him. "...hey, Mint… wake up, it's time."

He opens his dark brown eyes and groggily responds. "...it's so early… why… why do I have to get up…?"

"Don't you remember the thing we're doing today? If we're lucky, we can just catch the end of the outgoing tide. C'mon, wake up." Ross says.

Mint yawns and stretches his body out before standing up from the little grass bed he was sleeping in. He rubs his eyes with both paws. "Oh… that's right… we were gonna go fishing…"

"There ya go! Now c'mon! If we hurry, we'll be able to just beat out the end of the low tide!" Ross says, going over to the entrance of the den.

Mint is half-asleep. He's not used to waking up at such an early time and as such, slogs his way over to his father who is now carrying the poles and bait. Ross can't help but smile at his son, even if he's the subject of constant bullying, he's a fine Minccino in his eyes.

The two leave the den and enter the very dark forest. The sun is just starting to rise but hasn't graced the surface with its rays just yet. Compared to the light of day, the forest is a much different place during the night and wee hours of the morning. The welcoming atmosphere is replaced with a rather heavy and somewhat tense feel. The darkness of the sky that can't be seen due to the tree tops creates a more claustrophobic feel than usual and the feeling of being watched is always looming close by.

Ross and Mint have a fair way to go before they reach the end of the path where the ocean waits for them. Along the way, they have a conversation. "So… about yesterday. What exactly did those girls say to you?" Ross asks, curious about what they could've told him that hasn't been said already.

"That girl Patricia said you were a…" he shudders a little and hesitates because of how rude it is. "Y-you were a pussy with a small dick…"

He simply laughs at this, making him confused. "W-what's so funny?" he asks.

Ross looks at him. "Oh those girls… they don't know anything. I laugh because that's not true at all! If it wasn't for me, It's possible you and your mother may not be in the same position we're in right now. You know the work I do is hard but ends up paying off in the end. Like I said yesterday, pay those girls no attention, they know nothing."

Mint stays silent. His father decides to change the subject. "Anyway, I can't remember the last time we went out fishing like this… Feels like ages since we last went!" To his surprise, Mint doesn't say anything so he decides to stay silent.

The two keep walking along the path, nobody in sight in front or behind them. In any other situation, if either of them were alone, it could've been dangerous as rumors have been going around the colony that a bunch of rather violent Pokemon had started to take up residence in Pinwheel Forest. While nobody has the guts to go see for themselves, there have been a few Pokemon who went deep into the forest, only to come back all beaten up or not come back at all…

Fortunately for them, the path to the ocean isn't too long and they arrive only 20 minutes later. The path sharply cuts off and the forest almost instantly turns into a large beach in the matter of a few feet. The two step onto the sand and make their way down to the water, which is starting to come back in, a sign of the incoming high tide. To their surprise, a few other Minccino, Sewaddle, and Cottonee are already there fishing their hearts out as well. To some, this would seem like the perfect opportunity for some friendly competition, but for Mint and Ross, it's more of a potential pain in the butt. They look out over the water and notice how clear and clean it is along with the silhouette of the Skyarrow Bridge in the distance and the skyline of Castelia City looming even further beyond.

"The water is very clean today… could be a good haul with some luck. What do you say, Mint?" Says Ross.

"...I guess…" he says while holding his paws behind his back, a bit nervous due to the surprising amount of Pokemon here at such a time.

They reach the water and the waves are calm and gentle. There are what appear to be a few pods farther out but they'll be able to easily reach it no problem. Ross takes a quick look at the surface of the water and puts the bait on the side. "We're probably not gonna need it this time, but if we want, we can still use it."

He places his pole on the ground and unravels the line on Mint's pole before handing it off to him. Mint takes it and casts his line out by bringing it behind his back and swinging the pole forwards. The line goes out real far and lands right in the middle of the pod. While it seemed like a normal cast to his father, it was anything but normal for him since he put some residual anger from yesterday into it and used it as strength to cast. His father pats him on the back a few times.

"Damn… that was really far! Good job!"

Mint stays silent and holds the pole firmly, waiting for a bite which will probably take a while since fish don't always go for it immediately. While he waits, he looks at the other Pokemon who are here right now, two Minccino, three Sewaddle, and one Cottonee. They're all minding their own business and this puts him at ease a little bit but one of the Minccino strikes him as odd. he's seen him before but can't quite remember him since he can only see part of his face. It doesn't matter too much though because he'll finally not have to worry about being picked on and instead, he can enjoy his time with his father, something he hasn't done in years.

Ross finishes unraveling his line and proceeds to cast it out. He accidentally overshoots the pod by a few feet and lands behind it. "Whoops! Guess I used a little bit too much there!" he starts tugging on the line to pull it into the pod and then waits there for a bite.

Mint cracks a slight smile. For the first time in a while, he's happy. None of the worries or stress from his day to day life are present and everything is perfect. This is the way he wants it to be, nothing less and everything more. Sadly, when they return home, everything will go back to the way it was and the pain will start all over again.

A very touchy thought pops into his head, and even though he knows it isn't the best time to bring it up, he wants to know since it was mentioned yesterday. "...Dad, can I ask you something?"

Ross nods. "Go ahead, ask away."

"Why… why did mom…" he stops himself, too nervous to say the rest. Ross immediately knows what he's talking about.

"Oh… about that. You see, it's very hard to explain. I'd rather not talk about it but I'll say that mom lost sense of who she really loved during those moments in time." he says, looking towards the ground.

"...is that why you and mom aren't on the best of terms?"

He nods slowly. Mint looks back to his pole. "...sorry if… if that made you upset dad…"

He waves it off. "What are you talking about? That's in the past! Look at what we have now! We're fishing for the first time in years, there's nothing to be sad about here!"

He's right. What had happened is nothing but history and he should be looking towards the present and the future, but for Mint, that's nothing but pain and sadness. Behind them, the sun has finally risen to grace the world with its life-giving rays, revealing the crystal clear, blue water.

Suddenly, Mint gets a strong tug on his pole that slightly surprises him. "Oh! I've got one!" he starts to tug on the pole and slowly walk backwards.

The other Pokemon nearby notice this and start to watch. Mint suddenly gets dragged back towards the sea. Whatever he's hooked is very strong but he's fighting back with just as much strength. Ross encourages him. "Atta boy! Keep that pole tip up and keep constant pressure on them! Tire them out and you've got it in the bag!"

Mint grunts and struggles to pull the fish towards the beach, it's putting up a very big fight but despite that, he's still holding on strong. His pole is bent from all the tugging on both ends. It's possible that if both sides use all their might, the pole may snap in half.

He tugs real hard this time and brings the fish closer and closer to the beach. "C'mon…! C'mon…! You're not getting away!"

The fish he's hooked jumps out of the water for a moment, revealing just how big it is. His father's mouth drop wide open upon seeing it. It's massive! The other Pokemon around him see it too and some of them begin cheering and clapping, while the rest don't do anything. Mint fights this beast hard but is starting to tire out. The fish jumps out of the water once again quite close to the beach this time. Seeing this, Mint uses every bit of strength he has and attempts to drag the fish ashore. This doesn't end that well, because the fish apparently thought of using all of its strength to try and get away again. The amount of force exerted on the pole is far too great for it to handle and it begins to crack. Even though this fish is very strong, Mint is just a little bit stronger and manages to outlast it, pulling it ashore but at the same time, causing his pole to snap in half. This causes him to fall on his back in the sand.

Ross runs up to the fish to make sure it doesn't accidentally flop back into the ocean. He yells happily. "Oh ho! You sure bagged a big one this time Mint! Get over here and see your prize!"

Mint picks himself up off the sand and goes over to him. The fish is bigger than the two of them put together from the top of their head to their feet. He's happy about getting this fish but something within him makes him extremely angry for a split second and he slaps the flopping fish hard in the face. This causes it to stop flopping around and Ross becomes confused as to why he would do that but ignores it and drags it far away from the ocean.

He comes back and asks him. "What was that all about? Was slapping the fish necessary?"

Mint shakes his head violently for a second to snap out of it before responding. "I-I don't know… seeing it flop around like that just made me really angry for some reason…" he looks at his left paw which has a bunch of scales on it thanks to slapping the fish.

Ross frowns. "Was it because it reminded you of something those girls said?"

He shakes his head. Ross is left without an answer. He shrugs. "Oh well. Look on the bright side, we got a massive fish thanks to you. Talk about getting super lucky!"

Mint mumbles under his breath. "_Wish I was lucky enough to be normal like everyone else, then I wouldn't be upset all the time._"

Ross hears him but doesn't understand what he said. "Come again?"

"N-nothing! I said nothing…"

They turn their heads to see the three Sewaddle from earlier coming up to them. They seem pretty impressed with the catch. "Hey, that's quite a banger your son got there!" says one of them.

Ross nods. "You bet! I'm so proud of him!"

The three take a good look at him. Mint averts his gaze and holds his paws behind his back, hoping they won't say anything to him. A few drops of sweat form on the top of his head and he fidgets around slightly in the sand. They smile at him but he doesn't smile back.

"Your son has mint-green fur. I thought the only other fur color a Minccino can have is pink?" says the second Sewaddle.

Ross explains. "Well, me and my partner didn't know what to think of it at the time when he was born, but now I say that we were blessed with a very special gift and he's perfect the way he is now. He just has a few self-confidence and social issues, but that's okay because we still love him no matter what."

"He does seem different than the other Minccino that come down here to fish. The obvious fur color is one but everything else you've said is also quite different. Most of them are friendly while he seems… shy." the third one says.

"It's because he's been bullied and picked on by the others in our colony for having a different color of fur. The other Minccino that are around his age don't really like him even though he did nothing wrong to him. Just yesterday, he ended up tail slapping one of them in the face."

They all seem interested in this. "Wow, really? He of all Pokemon did that?"

Truth be told, Mint isn't the sort that looks like he'd whack someone in the face for bullying them especially after being told that he's shy and socially awkward but if yesterday has anything to say about it, it's that he's more than capable of putting the hurt on someone if he wanted to.

The three Sewaddle want to know more. "What exactly caused him to attack?"

Ross breaks into the full story that Mint told him and his mother at dinner time last night. Meanwhile, Mint has no desire to be social or get involved with the conversation so instead he goes over to where he broke his rod and begins to pick up the remaining pieces. While he does this, one of the other Minccino come over to him. They talk to him.

"You're Mint, aren't you?" he says. This grabs his attention and he looks up to see who it is but his heart drops to the bottom of his stomach when he realizes who he's looking at. The Minccino that stands in front of him is Patricia's dad, Brian. The timing of this couldn't be any worse after what he did to her yesterday.

He speaks with aggression in his voice and an equally angry expression, getting up in his face. "My daughter came home yesterday with a nasty mark on her beautiful face and she told me that you hit her. I've had some issues with one of your parents in the past but never with you but now it's personal. If you touch my daughter ever again, I will hurt you in the same way you hurt her. Understand?"

Mint shows no emotion or fear towards him despite being scared out of his mind deep down. "Touch me and you'll be the one lying on the ground, not by my hand, but by his hand." He motions with his head towards his father.

Brian doesn't care. "I don't care about your father, he means nothing to me. This is about you and my daughter."

"T-then tell your daughter to stop bullying me if you don't want her to get hurt again!" he responds with an attitude.

Brian pushes him and he falls back onto the sand, dropping the pieces of his rod. Brian stands over him and his shadow falls on him. "That's for giving me an attitude, learn to respect your superiors you brat. Next time it'll be one of your limbs that gets broken. You understand? You touch my daughter again and I'm coming after you." he then takes a piece of his bait from his bait bucket and throws it in his face, splatting bait fish guts all over him.

He walks away. Mint wipes the guts off his face and body and stands up. As much as he hates Brian for that, he can't really do anything about it. He's older and much stronger than him and picking a fight with an adult Minccino would only create 99 more problems in his life. Even so, he hopes that he will at least have the courtesy to tell Patricia to not bully him anymore. He doesn't dwell on it for too long because he's dirty now and wishes to go home to clean up. He picks up the pieces of his pole and goes back to his father.

"So yeah, he was trying to defend me and my partner's name. He's probably like that because of me. I told him to always take good care of his friends and family members which apparently includes us as well." Says Ross, finishing up the story.

The three Sewaddle agree with Mint's choice of action. "In a sense, I want to say that it was a double edged sword. He's defending his parents' name and showing that he won't take more of that crap." says the first one and the other two agree with him.

"Yeah, nobody should be allowed to just walk all over someone like that. It's not right!"

"They deserve what they had coming for them for sure. Hopefully they learn their lesson."

Mint comes up to Ross and taps him on the shoulder. He looks over at him and notices a rather fishy smell coming from him along with bits of bait guts on him. "Oh, did you fall into the bait bucket or something?"

"No… I just want to go home and clean up." he says with an annoyed tone, then hands him the broken rod.

"Huh… alright, at least we got the one big fish. It'll account for at least 3 nights of dinner easily." Ross says as he pulls his line in, places his rod on the sand, and then goes over to pick up the fish. He points to his rod and the bait bucket. "Can you carry those for me Mint?"

He nods and grabs said items. The three Sewaddle wave good-bye to them and they walk down the path back towards their home. Along the way, Ross asks him a question. "You didn't really give me an answer before, but how did you end up with this fishy smell and all that weird, slimy stuff on your fur?"

Mint sighs. "I don't want you to cause any problems, but do you know Patricia's dad?"

His expression changes to be serious. "Do I know him? I've beat his ass is a better way of describing it. Was he here?"

He nods. "Mhm. He threatened me while you were talking to those Sewaddle. He said that if I hurt Patricia again he'll do the same thing to me. I told him that if he tried to hurt me you'd be the one to put him on the ground. I then told him that won't happen if he tells Patricia to stop bullying me and then he pushed me into the sand and threw a piece of bait fish at me."

Ross clenches his right paw into a hard fist. "Who does he think he is? That brat of a kid he's got bullies you on a daily basis and while I tell you to ignore them, you have a point in saying what you said to him. It's called being a good parent, making sure your kid doesn't get into trouble or cause any. Guess he doesn't remember the ass whopping I gave him 15 years ago." he looks Mint in the eyes. "Listen buddy, if he ever touches you again, you run and get me. Ok? He can hit me all he wants but if he so much as places a finger on you, he's fucking dead." his tone is dangerously aggressive and dead serious.

He nods. "Okay."

Ross then picks a chunk of guts out of Mint's fur, grumbling to himself about Brian and how he'll smash him into the ground if he does anything stupid to his precious son. Mint can't help but giggle. His father and him are very much alike in that they'll pummel anyone who dares hurt the ones close to them. He turns to him and even though it's not the best idea, he gives him a hug, which, although very smelly and slimy, he reciprocates. It's moments like these that bring pure joy and happiness into their rather heavy lives. When they get home, Emilia is very impressed with the fish that Mint managed to land. Although she gets very upset when they tell her about what happened with Patricia's dad and what he did, she doesn't care too much. If anything, today was just marking the start of a very good day for everyone, even if there were a few bumps in the road.

* * *

**PD: How about it so far? I'm really enjoying how this story is shaping up. I got big plans for it, and you'll just have to see for yourself in the next chapter! Seeya then!**


	3. Elder's Encouragement

**Elder's Encouragement**

Later on that same day after getting all cleaned up, Mint decided to go out to the main colony in the hopes that someone could give him a job to do or something, but just like he expected, nobody, not a single Minccino in the colony wanted anything to do with him. He's tried to ask everyone but to no avail, and the last Minccino he can ask is quite possibly the worst of them all: Brian.

Considering what had happened yesterday and how the interaction between him and Mint earlier wasn't exactly that friendly, he expects the absolute worst. There is one good thing though, luckily for him, Rachel and Patricia are nowhere in the colony now as they have errands they need to run, so he wouldn't be dealing with either of them for a little while.

Mint nervously stands on the outside of Brian's den. Unlike some of the other Minccino, they have an actual door to their den, something the others were slightly envious of. He lifts up his left paw to knock but hesitates. He's not exactly sure of what to say when he opens the door and his eyes shift back and forth, hoping that nobody's watching him.

He's a nervous wreck and while it would be easier to accept that there's nothing for him to do on this fine day, he doesn't want to and instead stares the wooden door down. He shakes slightly and gulps down some saliva.

"_O-okay Mint… you're just looking to be helpful… no hard feelings, r-right Mr. Brian? So… do you have anything that I could do for y-you…?_" he thought to himself.

He plans on saying this but thinking about talking to someone and actually talking to them are two very different things for him, with the latter being even harder than usual. A big drop of sweat rolls down the side of his head and from the corner of his eye, he catches it and wipes it away with his right paw before tensing his entire body up and forcing his left paw to knock on the door three times.

He begins to violently shake the moment he realizes that he did it and he tucks his feet in close to his body. His ears also drop slightly down too. The sounds of rummaging and movement come from within and a few seconds later, the door opens to reveal a rather cranky looking Brian. He immediately recognizes Mint and this seems to worsen his mood.

He looks down at him and with a booming voice full of annoyance, he speaks. "What the hell do you want?"

Mint flinches at the sheer volume of his voice but tries to respond quickly and quietly. "...I… I was wondering if… if I- I mean YOU… if you had any I could do… I mean-" he stutters and jumbles his words up.

Brian cuts into him. "Before you tie your brain in a knot, I don't have anything that a runt like you could do, after all, runts are known for fucking up, and I sure as HELL don't need my stuff getting screwed up. It's bad enough my daughter's face is swollen because of you. Now get the fuck out of my sight or I'm gonna blast you into next year."

He slams the door shut on him. So much for that. Mint looks around, tapping his paws together anxiously, hoping nobody saw the train wreck he's gotten himself into. Seems nobody else around the colony noticed and he takes a big breath in relief. He quickly runs away from Brian's den, lest he knows that he'll hurt him if he doesn't.

He takes a look around the colony. As far as anyone was concerned, the colony is quite big. A total of 120 Minccino live in this one area. The colony is set up to be like a town, similar to how humans build their towns and cities. Each Minccino, their partner, and children (if they have any) all have their own dens and everyone can reach each other thanks to a relatively short walking distance between the homes.

In the middle of the colony, an attempt to make a plaza with a fountain was made and although it's not the best, the colony elder managed to get the help of the other nearby Pokemon colonies to make it and it functions exactly as it should. Many younger Minccino tend to gather here to play, make jokes, and talk. As for things like stores, there aren't any oddly enough and any business like that has to be done elsewhere. All the way at the back of the colony is a massive den where the elder used to live.

The elder was a Cinccino, known for being extremely kind and quite understanding towards everyone. Oddly enough, Mint has only seen her once and it was when he was very young, around 1 or 2 years old. He doesn't remember it at all that well but he remembers enough to know that the reason he saw her was because his parents wanted to know if there was something wrong with him due to his odd fur coloring.

* * *

"_Ah… Emilia and Ross… I had a premonition that you two would be visiting. Now, what brings you to me?"_

"_We're worried about our son. He was born with mint-green fur and we thought it was maybe a birth thing but his fur hasn't changed to be normal so we thought you might know more about it."_

"_Yeah, Emilia's right. Take a look at him. He seems like a normal kid but his fur color says anything but that."_

Behind them, a very young Mint is playing around with a stick he found outside. He waves it around as if it were a sword and he makes 'wooshing' and 'hitting' sounds. The elder takes note of his mint-green fur and smiles warmly. Mint looks up at her and becomes a bit shy, running behind his parents to hide, dropping the stick in the process.

"_He's just as normal as you and me. There's nothing wrong with him, he just has an insanely rare fur color that hasn't been seen in years. I do advise that the others may make fun of him because of it, so being extremely patient and understanding will be key with him when he gets older._"

She then takes another look at him. He pokes his head out slightly from behind his parents and his eyes glisten in the light. She seems to see something in him that nobody else sees and whispers extremely softly to herself.

"_Perhaps he'll be the one to take it up… if everyone ends up disliking him, they'll love him once they realize what he'll be doing for them in the near future._"

* * *

This was many years ago and sadly, the elder had passed on not too long after he saw her, and while there was supposed to be another elder to take her place, a Pokemon from outside the forest raided her den one night and stole the only shiny stone she had that is required to evolve Minccino into Cinccino. In other words, the ability to bestow the responsibility was taken away from her and ever since then, nobody has been able to take up the role.

Mint sighs as he walks towards the fountain in the center of the sprawling colony. The water coming out from the top sparkles as the light peeking through the gaps in the leaves on the trees hits it, giving it a majestic look and feel to it. He decides to take a seat on the side of it and stares at the ground for a few seconds. Suddenly, the sounds of kids yelling and screaming happily fills the air.

His attention shifts to a group of younger Minccino about 7-10 years old, quickly approaching the fountain plaza. They're running around and seem to be having fun, not a care in the world nor any problems in sight for them. It reminds him of what he used to have, a care-free spirit, a problemless life, and all the time in the world to have fun. Nowadays, he's lucky if he can crack a smile at all.

He watches them run around, they seem to be playing tag. One of them notices Mint and goes up to him.

"Hey! Aren't you that weirdo that everyone says has weird fur?" they say to him.

He can't get mad at them, they're only a child. He sighs. "Y-yeah…"

They laugh and point at him. "You're yucky! Rachel and Patricia said to never go near you!" she then runs away, laughing at him.

Mint grabs the side of the fountain and clenches it hard. Not even kids are safe for him to be around without fear of being teased or made fun of. He bites his lip angrily and a shadow falls over his face despite being in a spot with sunlight shining down on him. The young Minccino rejoins her group and brings their attention to him. When they all look at him, they notice the extremely dark shadow over his face and run over to him.

Mint doesn't look up or acknowledge any of them. The kids all start making fun of him, something he didn't want to deal with at all. They chant a song that only two Pokemon in this colony would have the ability to teach them to sing.

"Mint is a stinky yucky green slimeball! Mint is a stinky icky yucky green sewer rat!" the chorus of children repeat this a few times and skip around the fountain innocently.

The side of the fountain cracks under the immense force Mint is using to clench it. He's doing his best to not let a furious anger come out at them. He would seem even more like a dick if he yelled and screamed at kids. Bad enough he already hit Patricia and seems to have gotten a bad rep for defending himself throughout the colony.

"**Mint is a stinky yucky green slimeball! Mint is a stinky icky yucky green sewer rat!**" they continue to chant.

His arms shake and his paws dig further into the side of the fountain, nearly breaking it. He can't believe what he's hearing mere children say to him. They're so innocent and know nothing about what he's had to deal with for most of his life and because of their innocence, they're only adding to it unknowingly. It hurts far more than being bullied by Rachel, Patricia, or anyone else in the colony because he can't say anything to them that won't result in more problems. He can't take it and can feel a scream trying to force its way out.

In an attempt to avoid that, Mint bounces off the side of the fountain and runs off towards the elder's house, pushing whoever is in his way to the ground. As he runs, a few sparkly tears force themselves out from his eyes and land on the ground. His eyes are tightly clenched shut and the dark shadow over his face continues to persist as he reaches the stairs leading up to the former elder's house.

Even though nobody is allowed inside anymore, Mint sometimes sneaks inside to escape the stress of his daily life. This is one of those times. As he stands at the base of the stairs, he takes a good look around him to make sure nobody is watching. The children from before are nowhere in sight, he was sure they started following him the moment he ran, it's what children do.

Lucky… nobody in sight and dead quiet. He turns around and quickly runs up the stairs before someone shows up. He runs around to the back of the massive den and digs at a rather peculiar looking patch of dirt that is a slightly different color a few feet away under a very tall looking tree. A few seconds of digging reveals a unique looking panel that he presses to open up a hidden passage in the trunk of the massive tree, granting him access to the den without making anything look out of place on the frontside.

The passage is a bit dark but fortunately, is a straightforward path that leads to a ladder with a few torches at the end that are barely clinging to life. Mint doesn't recall these torches being lit before whenever he decided to sneak inside in the past.

"_W-what the…? Who lit those torches? Nobody lives in this den anymore and everyone is barred from entering unless they had special permission…_" he thought to himself as he crawled closer and closer to the ladder.

About a minute or two later, he reaches the ladder and climbs up, opening a hidden hatch on the floor in the middle of the elder's bedroom. He pulls himself up and into the room. He immediately notices something is wrong about this place. There are candles all over the room that are lit, something that would be not only a fire hazard, but potentially life threatening to everyone in the colony if something caught ablaze.

The room is dimly lit thanks to these candles and despite Pinwheel forest having a rather chilly but tolerable climate this time of the year, Mint has a massive chill. The room is colder than usual, the work of only a few things he can think of: an Ice type Pokemon, a Ghost type Pokemon, or a Legendary Pokemon playing a prank on him.

The only legendaries nearby are the grass type Sword of Justice, Virizion, but Mint has never seen them before so that can't be it. Ghost types don't usually come around Pinwheel forest either, same with Ice types…

"_S-something's not right… these candles are lit and the room is colder than it is outside right now…"_ is the only thing he can think to himself before a ghostly apparition floats past the draped entrance.

All the fur on Mint's body stands up on end as he catches a glimpse of the apparition from the corner of his eye. A drop of sweat forms on his head and he nervously but quietly calls out, hoping for an answer. "H-hello? I-is someone… s-someone there?"

No response. His heart sinks. Although he's never believed it, there have been stories of actual ghosts in the forest before, but nobody had physical proof they were real. He doesn't want to become part of the next ghost story in the colony so he makes a brave decision and goes to confront whatever passed by the entrance. He barges out of the bedroom and into the long hall, nobody in sight.

Mint is on full alert. The apparition went from right to left so he decides to go all the way down the hallway in the same direction. At the end, is a wooden door slightly ajar and the sound of someone humming can be heard. A shrill and soul piercing chill runs down Mint's spine as he places his left paw on the doorknob, thinking about whether or not he should enter.

"_H-humming!? A-are those s-stories true!? G-ghosts aren't… no… t-they can't be r-real! S-someone's playing a-a nasty prank on me…"_ he thinks to himself.

With no other option, he throws the door open and what he sees made him take back everything. In what appears to be a rocking chair, the colony elder sits, a warm, pleasant bright light cloaked around them and a sparkly aura surrounding them. She's humming a familiar tune but Mint can't place a paw on it. She stops humming and notices his presence. Her blank expression changes to a warm smile as she speaks to him, her voice sounding a bit ghosty but crystal clear to the point of bone-chilling.

"Well, well, well… if it isn't Ross and Emilia's son Mint. It's been about 18 years, hasn't it? You've grown so much since I last saw you."

Mint has no words for what he's seeing or hearing. "I-I-I-I…"

She stands up from her chair. The long fluffs of fur coming from her head wrap around to her back and move elegantly along with her body's movements. She goes right up to him and looks him right in the eye. He does the same but can't hold his gaze for long and blushes in embarrassment, looking away from her in response. She chuckles at his reaction.

"Seems you're as shy as you were when I first met you." she begins to walk around him, one of her long fluffs wrapping around and rubbing the right side of his cheek.

"You've also gotten very strong too… I would hope you don't have to use your power to harm anyone in the colony… I'm well aware of what you did to Patricia. She deserved to be shut up, but if she does what she did again, a quiet heart but a strong willed grit is the best way to go about it."

He becomes a bit surprised hearing about this. The elder is a ghost of all things and yet she knows about him hurting Patricia. "B-but… h-h-how do you k-know I d-did that?"

She chuckles, stops in front of him, and puts her paws on her sides. "Because you just told me you did."

He doesn't realize it at first but then facepaws himself upon realizing that he gave himself away by asking said question. She waves it off.

"Don't trouble yourself with it. Now, I want to know something: what are you doing in my den? I didn't give you permission, not that it matters now, but something ails you deeply child and I won't stand to let you leave without telling me."

It is said that elders, no matter what Pokemon they are or where they're from, know more about someone than anyone else just from looking at their face. This is something that is proving to be very much true. Mint can't hide it, she already knows he's here for a reason so he fesses up.

"I… I don't want to be made fun of or teased…"

She thinks for a moment, then goes to grab his hand and despite what logic about ghosts would dictate, he feels her touch. She closes her eyes and smiles. "That's exactly what I figured… But, is it the right thing to do? Trespass and break into a place that you have no business being in?"

He shakes his head, ashamed that he had been caught by her of all Pokemon, but hey, better than someone from the colony, he'd never hear the end of it.

She pats his paw. "At least you realize what you've done is wrong. Responsibility for your actions is an important lesson many Pokemon are unable to learn in their lives. I know how you feel… hated… betrayed… and unloved… but you shouldn't forget that your parents and those outside the colony appreciate you and enjoy seeing you. Life isn't always about those you've grown to know, but sometimes, it's about those you meet along the way."

He looks at her, eyes open a little wider than usual as this idea plants itself in his mind. She's right, but at the same time, he has everyone around him to blame for the Pokemon he's turned into. This secondary thought saddens him almost instantly and she takes note.

"Child… do not frown…" she places her right paw under his chin and lifts his head up a little. "Smile… you have much to do and much to see. There's a whole world out there for you to explore and moping around isn't going to make anything change."

A few tears drop from his eyes forcibly. She keeps her warm, inviting look despite her words making him cry. She reaches into her scarf and pulls out a very strange pendant on a necklace. She holds it up to him.

"Whenever I got upset, I always looked at this pendant and thought about all the wonderful things that are in this world, all the good things I've got…" she then turns his paw over and hands it over to him.

She closes his paw over it and grasps his paw firmly. "Remember all the good things in your life… they outweigh all the bad…"

With no warning, she begins to glow brightly to the point of being impossible to look out without squinting. The room fills with a beautiful but painfully bright light and as fast as it comes is as fast as it goes. The light dissipates and he's suddenly outside at the base of the stairs to her den. In his right paw is the pendant necklace she gave him but he's more concerned on how he ended up back here without moving.

"_W-what happened? Did… did I actually talk to… the elder? W-was it a dream?" _he thought to himself as he looked down at the pendant.

The pendant is a one of a kind, something that may never be replaced by anything else in the world. Where the elder got it from will never be known but one thing's for certain, there's no other one like it out there in the world. He comes to his senses from the ethereal experience and realizes that if he's seen by anyone, he'll be questioned for being so close to the den, so he decides to hightail it back home. As he runs, the pendant faintly glows and sparkles with the same aura the elder had surrounding her.

* * *

**PD: What's that pendant for you might be asking? well, I'm not telling because it's a big spoiler. Have fun thinking about what it'll do though. Seeya in the next chapter!**


	4. Exiled Stranger

**Exiled Stranger**

That evening, while at the dinner table with his mother and father, Mint tells them about how he saw the ghost of the Elder Cinccino. Of course, this is not without its own consequences, for his parents aren't happy about what he did.

Emilia frowns at him. "You know you're not supposed to go into the Elder's den! If anyone finds out, we're all gonna be in hot water!" she then sighs, for she partially understands why he did it. It's not the first time he's told them about going there.

Ross shakes his head. "If you keep sneaking in there, you're bound to get caught. I'm not gonna say the same thing I've said the last 30 times you broke in, it's a broken record at this point."

Mint looks at the ground in shame. "I know… but I didn't want to do something regrettable to those children…"

Both his parents look at each other for a second, confused as to what he means by that. Emilia has no choice but to ask him. "Mint… what do you mean…?"

He nervously responds. "I-I didn't do anything to them… they're the ones that… that made me break into the den… They were teasing me and I took myself away from them to avoid hurting or yelling at them."

She stays silent. At least he's being honest. The fact that he knew what not to do pleases her but because he broke into the den, it might as well have been him hurting one of them. She frowns once more.

"I know you hate when others bully you, but you cannot be breaking into the Elder's den anymore. We've told you this so many times that it's probably drilled into your head by this point but I'm saying it again: do not ever break into the elder's den. Okay? Please Mint, I don't want you getting in trouble."

He nods. There is one thing he hasn't told them about, and that's the little pendant sitting on the grass chair directly in front of him under the table as to not be seen by either of them. He's unsure about telling them, for they might think he stole it, which isn't what happened. He takes a quick glance at it and then shoots back up to his parents. Luckily for him, they didn't notice his sudden eye movement. The pendant is faintly glowing and an aura similar to the one the elder had seems to outline it. Perhaps the Elder's power is contained within the pendant, but Mint has zero clue as to why she gave it to him.

His thoughts are interrupted by his mother. "Mint… you haven't touched your food since you got home. Aren't you hungry?"

He looks at the small berry pile in front of him. On any other day, these would've been gone mere seconds after he came home, but not today. He has way too much on his mind and one of the things that isn't being thought about is hunger.

"S-sorry mom… I'm just not that hungry." he says quietly.

She shrugs. "Oh well, I can't blame you. If you really did see the ghost of our Elder, then I wouldn't want to eat either."

He stands up from the table, sneakily picking up the pendant in the process and hiding it well in his right paw. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I won't go far."

Ross immediately stands up. "You better be careful. You remember the rumors going around the colony, right?"

He looks him in the eyes and his expression tenses a bit. "I don't want to hear about you getting hurt by them, so you better be aware of your surroundings. If you see anything, run. It's not worth trying to fight them, especially since nobody has seen what they look like."

Mint gives him a slow nod. "I wasn't planning on fighting with anybody, I don't feel like it. I'll be careful, don't you worry."

Ross, while hesitant, sits back down and watches his son leave the den.

The sun has fallen below the horizon but there's still a bit of light left. It isn't enough for the forest to be lit up properly for most day dwelling Pokemon to see thanks to the thick leaves and brush, but that's not a problem for Mint. Some of the Minccino in the colony have the ability to see in the dark a little bit better than the others, and Mint and his family are part of that group.

To him, the path ahead is only slightly darkened. While there is no wind, the leaves and grasses sway ever so slightly. He walks down the path towards the main colony, looking at the pendant in the process. It glows and gives off a bit of light and little shiny sparkles radiate off its surface. As he looks at it, he's compelled to put it around his neck to wear it but in the back of his mind, the thought of someone seeing him with it might spark new rumors or instigate more bullying so he refrains from wearing it...for now.

He passes by the strange stone in the grass from yesterday. Untouched and undiscovered, it watches him walk by. It seems to resonate and begins glowing faintly in his presence but the moment he's more than 10 feet away, it stops glowing. Seems the stone has taken a liking to him. Surprisingly, he didn't notice it yet again, probably because he's engrossed in trying to understand the reasons behind why the Elder gave him the pendant.

"_Why would she give me something so valuable and precious to her? More importantly, why does it seem to constantly glow and sparkle? Did she put her soul into it? Is that what that light was yesterday?"_ he thought to himself as something tells him to look up.

He's on the very outskirts of the colony. Seems he didn't pay attention to where he was going.

"_Oops… I went the wrong way I guess… my father told me to pay attention and I'm already disobeying him by coming here."_ he whispers to himself before turning around and running back the way he came.

As he runs past the stone once again, it quickly begins to glow in his presence and out of the corner of his eye, he notices it. He stops and looks back. The glow is gone. He raises an eyebrow at this and walks over to where he thinks the glow was coming from and as he pushes the tall grass aside, the stone begins to glow brightly and reveal itself to him.

He walks over to it and kneels down to get a better look. He's never seen a stone glow that brightly before, but then again, it's quite pretty as well. He raises his left paw and slowly reaches for it…

The sound of someone whistling grabs his attention and he turns his head towards the direction it's coming from. He notices a dark shape coming towards him from the direction of the colony and he jumps behind a nearby tree, tightly grasping the pendant in his right paw to hide it as best as possible. The shining stone stops glowing and he pokes his head out a tiny bit to see who or what it is.

The dark silhouette is difficult to make out, but from what appears to be its cheeks, a couple quick jolts of electricity seem to come from it every 4 or so seconds. These bolts momentarily light up the stranger's face and reveal their yellow skin and red cheek pouches. Only one Pokemon has the ability to use electricity and has red cheek pouches and yellow skin: Pikachu.

Mint finds this very odd. "_What the…? What's a Pikachu doing in Pinwheel Forest, better yet, what're they doing in our colony?_" he thinks to himself when suddenly, the Pikachu's eyes shoot towards the tree he's hiding behind.

He ducks behind it quickly, hoping they didn't see him. The Pikachu coughs a couple times and then calls out to him. "Eyyo? I saw that… if you're trying to scare me, you've failed already. Come out and show yourself, I won't hurt ya."

Mint doesn't want to, but he doesn't wanna seem like an asshole to an outsider so he comes out of hiding. The Pikachu squints their eyes at them for a moment and then laughs. "Ahahahaaaa! A Minccino was trying to scare me!? Bwahahahahaahaaaa!"

He continues to laugh as if it was the funniest thing he's seen all day. Mint can't determine if he's being laughed AT or if they're laughing at what they thought he was trying to do to them. They stop laughing and wipe a few tears from their eyes. "Ooh man… been a long time since any baby Pokemon tried to scare me… I'm a little too old for that, don't you think, sport?" they say to him.

He puts his paws behind his back and tucks his feet in a little and nervously replies. "...I-I guess…"

The Pikachu waves it off. "Eh fuggedaboutit… You look like a good kid. Tell me, what's your name?"

"M-my n-n-name…!?" he quickly responds without thinking, a couple drops of sweat forming on his forehead.

The Pikachu nods. "Yes. A form of identification, a name! Ya know, like what you're parents, friends, and Elders call ya. Do ya got one?"

Mint gulps and nods.

"Okay, then what're called, champ?" he asks.

Mint starts to shake anxiously. "M-mi-m-m-m… Mint… m-my name is m-mint…"

The Pikachu gives him a friendly smile. "Mint! Now THAT's what I call a name! As for you, you can call me one ear'd, broken tail'd meg!"

Mint raises an eyebrow. The Pikachu notices that he doesn't get the joke and sighs. "...Tough humor, huh? Alright, plain and simple, people and Pokemon call me Scott." he then extends his left hand out for Mint to shake.

Mint raises his left paw, still shaking anxiously, but manages to grab his hand and they shake. Scott gives him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Hey, chill out man! There's no need for all this anxiety and shit, I ain't gonna do anything to you."

He takes a deep breath and stops shaking. It's been a while since he met a stranger. It doesn't help that his mind isn't giving him anything to say though, so it just seems weird. Scott doesn't seem to care though. "Alright, I get your gig… you're one of those socially awkward types aren't you?" he says.

Mint's cheeks become a little red. "_H-how'd he know…?_" he thought to himself.

Scott notices this. "Aha! Seems I'm right!" he then does a little victory pose. "Score another one for the scottster!" he turns back to him. "Since that's how it seems it's gonna be, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Take as long as you need to respond to anything I say. If it makes it easier for you though, you don't have to say anything. I get it, you're scared to talk and shit. I was just like that once when I was younger."

He walks closer to him and motions for him to turn around. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?" and he starts gently pushing Mint down the path.

"N-n-n… no… w-w-wait… I…" he can't say anything, he's too nervous and his brain's speaking center has shut down.

"No no, we're going. Everything's fine." he then notices that Mint's fur color is much different than all the other Minccino he's seen. "What's this? A different fur color than grey?"

Mint's cheeks are burning red. He can't even say anything and he's about to get bullied by a STRANGER, someone who doesn't know anything about him besides the fact that he's socially awkward. Scott pushes him along. "Man… c'mon, use your feet dammit! I know your muscles work, you aren't an old timer just yet!"

He stops resisting and walks, sighing to himself. "_How did I get into this mess, and how am I gonna get out of it? I want to know what that stone from earlier was…_"

Scott notices he seems to be a bit pensive. "Hey, what're ya thinking about? I can tell something's on your mind."

He stays silent, it's the only thing he can think of that could get him out of this.

"Not gonna answer? That's cool. I get your types a lot. Anyway, you're probably thinking about what I was doing in your colony. Well look no further, for I'm someone who used to live in a colony just like you, but alas… I was much different than the others and they didn't want to associate themselves with me, so they left me out to dry."

Sounds like what Mint's dealing with right now. This grabs his attention and he listens to him. Scott continues. "Unlike other Pikachu, my ears were a little deformed and my tail was all chewed up. Well, actually, it's not quite that bad, but I've got a bit of a quirk to my appearance and they certainly didn't approve of it. I can't change myself in that regard though, so I said to hell with them. Bad luck and all that negative shit, you know what I'm saying?" he looks at Mint, who nods slowly.

True to his words, he has a rather odd looking deformity going on with one of his ears. It seems to be bent in a few directions. His tail is also weird as well, looking as if something had clawed and tore it up. Other than that, he was still classifiable as a Pikachu. He continues to talk.

"Yep! I'm an exile. It ain't all that bad though. I found out a few months later that karma came into effect and all of those bastards were caught by some weird group of humans. I forgot what they were called… PFU? PPU? Ah who the fuck cares, serves them right. Treated me like shit and made me feel like a waste of oxygen. That's what you get, all the bad energy you put out there got thrown right back at ya."

He stretches himself out and walks with Mint. He notices that he seems rather interested in his story, so he continues. "Now, I don't know anything about you, but you seem like the sort that might be considered different in a bad way. Look at yourself, no Minccino I've seen in this colony a few hours ago had fur the likes of your color."

Mint becomes a little upset by this. Scott somehow knew this without being told anything. Either he's a stalker he never saw until now, or he's just getting lucky. Regardless, it's freaking him out a little.

"That look you're givin' me. I'm right, aren't I? Score another for me then… but that's not important. At LEAST you've still got a home and a family to go back to, right?"

Mint gives him an odd look.

"What? Am I wrong or something…?" he sighs. "Whatever… family or not, you haven't been kicked out, otherwise you wouldn't have been in the same place I was." he then remembers that he noticed him hiding behind the tree moments before meeting him. "By the way, why were you hiding behind that tree earlier? I was kidding about you trying to scare me, but I'm stuck on figuring out what you were really doing. Mind telling me?"

Mint's eyes shoot wide open, he has to speak for the first time in what seems like an eternity. "O-oh… yeah… a-about that…" he taps his paws together nervously. "Y-you see… I was… I-I was…"

He doesn't want to tell him about the stone. He fears that he might take it and stop him from figuring out what was causing it to glow. Scott waits for him to tell him the rest but Mint doesn't.

"You were what? What were you doing?" he asks.

Mint sighs. He can't think of any white lies at the moment so he sucks it up and deals with it. "I-I was looking… at a g-glowing stone…"

"A glowing stone?"

Mint nods. "Y-yes…" he averts his gaze away from him.

Scott thinks about it for a second, then speaks. "Maybe this forest has some glowstone. I know there's certain places in Unova that have glowing stones. For example, you know Chargestone Cave?"

Mint shakes his head.

"Ahh… well, inside that cave, there's a bunch of stones filled to the brim with electricity. If you touch one, you'll get a shocking surprise. They also glow as well if that wasn't implied at this point. Anyway, maybe one of those stones were transported out here by an ancient Pokemon or something. You never know!" says Scott.

He has a point, but what Mint saw wasn't electricity causing that stone to glow. Scott is interested in it too. "Anyway, where is the stone located? I'm assuming you know because this IS your home after all."

Mint stops and takes a look around him. He suddenly notices that Scott had taken him into a part of the forest he's never been in. They're really deep in Pinwheel Forest and they haven't even been walking that fast, it doesn't even feel that they walked that far either. Mint remembers what his father had said, to pay attention, and by extension, don't go too far into the forest.

He turns to Scott. "Y-yeah… but… I uh… I have to g-go… it's l-late and… there's b-bad Pokemon… bad Pokemon are out here…" he says, hoping he'll let him go.

Scott shrugs. "Oh well, guess I'll see you around or something. I don't know when I'll be here again, so I hope you figure out whatever it is you wanted to figure out."

Mint nods and turns around to head back home but before he takes off running on all fours, Scott stops him. "Hey hold on!"

Mint looks back at him.

"Try not to let those assholes bother you too much! Just because you're different doesn't mean that it's a bad thing!"

Mint nods and then takes off. As much as this stranger seemed to understand him, he didn't really like him that much. He came off as someone that just constantly talked and seemed to be a bit annoying. Despite that though, he appears to be quite knowledgeable and perhaps the next time Mint sees him, he'll actually be able to talk to him properly...


	5. Sealing The Deal

**Sealing The Deal**

The next day, Mint had decided to sleep in for a bit longer than usual before heading out. He was up late last night with that Pikachu, Scott, and he had brought him to a part of Pinwheel Forest that he had never been to. It took him almost an hour to get back home because of the unfamiliar location but once he made it back, he instantly went to sleep… except his parents questioned him for why he was out that long.

He told them that he lost track of time due to thinking about a whole bunch of stuff, mainly, how he saw the colony Elder. He didn't tell them about the Pikachu though because he knows that he most likely won't be seeing him again unless a freak chance meeting happens. At least he put their worries at ease. When he left his home this morning, he left his pendant under his bed so his parents wouldn't find it. He didn't want anyone potentially seeing it and possibly bully him for having a 'Girly accessory'.

It's a new day now, and while the late morning sunshine pierces through the trees and thick leaves, Mint is a little bit down. The chilly breeze of the late fall air flows through the colony, disturbing his fur a bit as he sits on the edge of the fountain again. The children from yesterday are here playing once again, but they seem to completely ignore him this time around. Finally, some peace and quiet for once, something Mint had been hoping to have for the last few days.

Unfortunately for him, his unlucky streak of not-so-peaceful days is about to continue, for a certain couple of Minccino have returned to the colony: Rachel and Patricia.

Both of them are outside Patricia's house. Patricia seems to be gently rubbing the spot on her face where Mint hit her a few days ago. The swelling has finally gone down but in its place is a nasty black and blue mark from near her lips almost all the way up to her ear, he got her pretty good. She isn't so happy about it and seems to be complaining about it to Rachel. Mint can hear them as they're pretty loud at the moment and while he doesn't care for what they have to say, he indirectly listens in.

"My beautiful face is ruined! How am I supposed to use my beauty to attract a mate if I have such an ugly mark on my face?" she says, apparently on the verge of sobbing by her tone of voice.

Rachel tries to comfort her. "Aww c'mon… it's not THAT bad… you're still just as beautiful as ever! I think that mark looks kinda cool, shows that you're tougher than you look if I'm going to be brutally honest."

She doesn't seem to see it that way. "No, it's not cool! My face is what all the guys are going to see when they first meet me and if you were one of them, would YOU think of having me as your mate if you saw me with this disgusting mark?"

"Patricia, you're making a big deal out of it… marks like this fade away over time."

She thinks she doesn't have that. "Time!? I don't have time! You know we're supposed to start getting a mate by this age, how can you not freak out about it? I'm an ugly bitch that nobody will want!" her sadness quickly turns into fuming anger. "That fucking…" she begins to ramble under her breath.

Mint gulps down a small amount of saliva. His instincts are telling him that what's gonna happen next isn't going to be good for his or Patricia's health. He can practically feel her rage at this point. "_Great… I just HAD to act without thinking and tail slap her in the face, didn't I?_" he thinks to himself as he tries to listen to the conversation once again.

"I'm going to find that son of a bitch and make him pay for what he did to me…! 'Next time you blah blah blah, I'm gonna make you eat the dirt' How about you come out from hiding you fucking coward!? If you're gonna make threats, you better go through with them!" she yells as she starts walking in the direction of the elder's den.

Lucky Mint, he decided to sit on the opposite side of the fountain today, but he's still got a problem now. "_What the fuck am I going to do now? If I try and leave, they'll hear me and then…_" his thoughts are cut off by Patricia yelling.

"Come out, come out, stop hiding from me you filthy motherfucker! I got a bone to pick with you!" her voice seems to suddenly be getting louder and louder.

Mint has to do something, otherwise she'll find him. He quickly thinks of a possible escape route but as he's thinking, she rounds the fountain and spots him. "AHA! YOU WERE HERE THIS WHOLE TIME!?" she yells in his face.

"_FUCK"_ is all he can say in his head.

She gets right up in his face, making him back up and almost fall into the fountain pool. "Happy to see me? I thought you couldn't resist looking for a fucking fight after what you did to me a few days ago."

He looks away and stays silent. This only further infuriates her. "Helloooo! I'm over here!" she slaps his face to make him look at her, making him flinch. "LOOK AT SOMEONE WHEN THEY'RE TALKING TO YOU!"

Rachel starts looking around nervously, tapping her paws together. She seems uneasy and senses something bad about to happen. What she's actually doing is trying to make sure nobody sees or hears them. Patricia laughs in a rather sinister way before speaking to Mint.

"Remember when you said you'd make me eat the dirt at my feet the next time I talked shit about your parents? Well what do you have to say about eating not only the dirt at my feet, but also eating your own words!?" she then uses 'Doubleslap' and with all of her might, slaps him so hard on the right side of his face that he is knocked into the air for a moment and falls right into the fountain pool.

Water splashes up everywhere, and unlike normal fountains, the fountain pool actually goes a bit deeper than what it looks like from the outside. Mint comes up to the surface, gasping for air. He now has a nasty mark on his face, no where near the size of the one she has, but still nasty enough to be very noticeable.

A little bit of water splashed onto Patricia, but she doesn't care. She laughs happily at what she's done and points at him. "Look, a wet sewer rat has come up from the fountain! Oh no… I'm soooo scared!" she teases before chuckling and then becoming serious. "Get the fuck out of there you prick. Fight me!"

The children who were running and playing around from before saw what just happened and all of them fall silent. Some of them decide to run off back home but the ones that don't run off become sorta hypnotized by what's going on. Mint doesn't want to climb out of the fountain, but he has no choice since he can't swim forever.

He goes to climb out, only for Patricia to grab him by his left paw and forcibly drag him out and onto the floor. She immediately kicks dirt on his face and body. "You like that!? The dirt suits you so well! FUCKING TAKE IT YOU BITCH!"

Her yelling starts grabbing the attention of a few Minccino who are in their dens. They come out to see and the ones closest to the fountain notice what's going on. In normal situations, if this was a fight with anyone else, they would be all over them to stop and break it up. However, since Mint is involved, nobody wants to do anything because, well… we already know, don't we?

Mint spits the dirt out of his mouth, somehow, she managed to kick some in there. She stands over him, waiting for him to get up, but he's not. Even though he knows what he said, he isn't going to fight her. He thought that he made it clear to her that if she did anything to him again, she would be in a world of hurt but apparently this threat wasn't intimidating enough.

She yells in his face again. "GET UP! DON'T JUST LIE THERE, FIGHT ME!"

He looks away and takes a deep breath before standing up, but he's quick to react and as she goes to use 'Doubleslap' again, he jumps away from her. His soaking wet fur sprays water over her from his movement and the long tuft of fur on his head flops down over his left eye. He pushes it out of the way and his expression becomes intense.

Patricia smiles cockily, she's finally getting what she wants, at least, that's what it looks like in her eyes. She wipes some of the water off her face and snickers. Rachel on the other hand is stuck between running back home to avoid becoming an accomplice to the fight or if she should try to break it up herself. Even though she hates Mint, this fight is pointless. She tries to talk some sense into her.

"P-Patricia, is this really nec-" she cuts her off.

"Stay out of it! I don't need you getting hurt by this bastard, it's bad enough he hurt me in more ways than I can count."

She tried, the only thing she can do now is hope neither of them get seriously injured so she backs a fair distance away from them. A rather decently sized crowd has now gathered on the very outskirts of the plaza, waiting to see the fight kick into high gear. Some of them are even silently cheering for Mint's defeat. In the meantime, Mint and Patricia stare each other down.

On his forehead is a bunch of sweat droplets mixed with water. They slowly roll down his head and as soon as they fall off and hit the ground, Patricia runs at him. The two end up locking paws with each other and attempt to push the other to the ground. Even though Mint may be stronger battlewise, he's not that strong physically and as such struggles a little bit against her. She grunts and bares her teeth, she's not kidding around.

It takes all of his strength to keep her at bay but he can't hold her forever and decides to let her push him down… except he uses this downward momentum to slide right past her on her right side. She falls to the ground as there's nothing holding her up. A small cloud of dirt is created from the impact but she stands up immediately.

A few of the Minccino that are spectating actually cheer Mint for his move, but he doesn't acknowledge them, they're only trying to trip him up. Patricia runs at him again but uses 'Iron tail' and even though he could dodge it, the small distance between the two of them makes this almost impossible and he gets hit with it right across the stomach. He stumbles back a little and she combos into 'Swift'.

Star shaped rays appear around her and she throws her paws forwards and they all pelt him, throwing him further off balance. She then jumps at him and finishes off with 'Tail Slap'. She hits him once in the face, which keeps him off balance, then she hits him in the ears, which makes him grab them and almost falls over in response, finally, she hits him with a vertical swipe going from toe to head and this is enough for him to be knocked onto his back.

Everyone in the crowd cheers as he goes down. He isn't out just yet, but these three attacks did a considerable amount of damage. The dust and dirt on his fur shows his damage. If he were to take these same attacks again, he'd be nearly defeated. One thing about Minccino is that while they have good attack power, they have very little defensive capabilities, making them rather frail. Up against each other, it's all about how fast they move and who can hit first.

Mint stands up, but not as fast as before, a clear sign that he's taken much damage. Patricia rubs under her nose and speaks with a confident but cocky tone. "What's the matter, Mint? Feeling a little tired? You can't POSSIBLY be tuckered out already, we only just started!"

His breathing is a little weird too, taking much deeper breaths than usual. He doesn't want to hit her, he knows what will happen if he does. He quickly looks at the crowd around him and realizes that nearly everyone in the colony is there now… **minus his parents and a few others.**

He shifts his attention back to her. She's waiting for him to make his move. "C'mon! Make me eat the dirt like you said you would!" she punches her paws together and braces herself for his move, but he shakes his head.

Her eyes widen in response but she smiles devilishly. "You're not gonna attack? You really ARE all show and no go!" she uses the move 'Swift' once again.

The star shaped rays surround her once again but this time, Mint isn't gonna let her hit him. She throws her paw forward and the stars fly at him. This time, he uses 'Tail Slap' and with his tail, whacks every single star up into the air, completely avoiding damage. The stars break above them and little, harmless stars fall all over them. Patricia is mildly surprised, but at the same time, doesn't care.

She runs at him and prepares to use 'Iron Tail' once again but he counters by using 'Tail Slap' once more. Their tails collide with each other and a wave of energy billows forth, causing a bit of dust and dirt to fly into the sky. She takes this chance to grab him by the fur on his chest using her left paw and with her right paw, repeatedly slaps him across the face using 'Wake-Up-Slap' a move that's super effective against Normal types.

While he gets hit by each slap, Mint responds with 'Bullet Seed' and he shoots 3 seeds at her, 2 towards her eyes, and one at her nose. This causes her to flinch and grab her eyes in response and she drops him, letting him run away from her. The wake-up-slap did massive damage to him and he feels a bit lightheaded, a sign that he's getting close to being defeated.

Everyone is half torn on cheering and booing. Cheering for Patricia and booing for Mint. While nobody was looking, Rachel had managed to slip through the crowd and began to run home, hoping that she could find someone or something that could stop the fight before Mint or Patricia get brutally hurt.

Back at the plaza, Mint and Patricia are back at it again, paws locked together and trying to push the other to the ground. Patricia is starting to tire out and this is something that Mint can use to his advantage, but once again, he's not gonna do what he said he'd do. She speaks to him through her teeth. "You've really and gone and done it, haven't you? See what you did to my face!?"

Mint doesn't care. He pushes her back. She pushes back harder in response and continues talking. "Because of you, I won't be able to get a mate! Do you know what it feels like to be alone!? HUH!?"

Those words strike a potent nerve and Mint shoves her back really hard, throwing her onto the ground and he starts seeing everything around him painted in blood red. His face suddenly becomes covered by an extremely dark shadow and the entire crowd goes silent. He speaks for the first time in this battle. "...do I know what it feels like to be alone…?" his voice is very low and holds immense rage.

She looks up at him, realizing that what she said was quite possibly a fatal mistake. He steps forward over her and his shadow seemingly grows tall and covers her, making her put her paws up over her face in response and turning her head away, cowering a bit. He inhales deeply and screams right in her face with everything he's got, his voice cracking and breaking. "**HOW DARE YOU PLAY THE ROLE OF THE VICTIM YOU UNGRATEFUL, SPOILED, GREY TRASH, EGOTISTICAL, BEAUTY CRAZED SNOB. YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ALONE! THE MOMENT I WAS ABLE TO GO OUT AND MEET THE OTHER MINCCINO IN THIS COLONY, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU KICKED ME TO THE CURB AND LEFT ME OUT OF ANY AND ALL ACTIVITIES! PLAYTIME, NAPTIME, LUNCHTIME, FUCKTIME! IT DOESN'T MATTER! 16 YEARS OF BEING LONELY AND 7 OF THOSE YEARS SPENT BEING BULLIED BY YOU, YOUR WASTE OF FUR FOR A FRIEND, AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS FUCKING SHITHOLE COLONY! I SURE AS HELL KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IT'S LIKE TO BE LONELY, SO DON'T YOU DARE PLAY THE VICTIM CARD EVER AGAIN!**"

Everyone around him is wide eyed and shocked. Mint stands there, panting heavily as the red in his vision fades away slowly and he comes to his senses. He doesn't realize what he did or said, it was all impulse and instinct that took control of him. He sees Patricia on the ground, eyes wide as they can be, completely mortified and lost for words. He looks up at the crowd. They're all staring at him with equally surprised looks. A few of them start to whisper among each other and Mint shoots his gaze back to Patricia.

She stands up, his words seemingly not having any effect on her but deep down, this hurt her immensely. She dusts herself off before getting right up in his face. "You talk a lot of shit for someone who won't fight back. I don't know what got into you to make you think that you can just yell at me like that…" she clenches her paws into extremely hard fists and her tone becomes extremely aggressive and angry, her face reflecting it too. "But I'm not gonna fucking take that without putting you down!"

She uses the move 'Last Resort' and with an insanely powerful punch to his nose with her right paw, she knocks him out and possibly breaks his nose in the process. He falls on his back and hits the ground, blood starting to come out of his nose. A few Minccino in the crowd cheer for Patricia, but most of them are still whispering about what Mint said moments before.

Patricia looks at Mint who is now unconscious. She kicks dirt onto him and wipes the little blood droplets off her paw and onto his. She makes an 'ugh' sound as she touches him. Even though he put up no fight at all, she had a bit of difficulty trying to take him down. She's had enough of this and wants to go home. She pushes her way through the now dispersing crowd and heads for her den to tell her father about what she accomplished.

* * *

An hour or so seems to go by… Mint wakes up in his bed at home. He's confused as to how he got there but this thought shifts to the rather unpleasant sensation coming from his nose. He wipes at it and a little bit of fresh blood comes off and onto his paws. He sighs and notices that he has what looks like a gauze wrap over it. He groans as he realizes just exactly what that means.

His groaning grabs the attention of his parents who are nearby. Emilia runs over to him and slides to a stop in front of him, worried out of her mind over what happened. "Mint! You're finally awake! Oh my Arceus… I was so worried… " She grabs him into a rather big hug. She's acting as if she wasn't going to see him again for the rest of her life.

"...mom… that… that hurts…" he says in a pained voice. He aches from all the battle damage he took, not to mention, it seems some attacks he took also left little cuts and bruises here and there.

She stops hugging him. "Sorry… it's just…" she's very upset over what happened and her voice seems a bit higher than usual. "One of our old friends from the Cottonee colony came to visit with the intent on doing some trading and found you knocked out in the plaza… he also said he heard from one of the Minccino that you were in a fight with Patricia…"

Ross, on the other hand, has a dark shadow over his face and a very deep growl could be heard coming from him. Mint knows that when his father gets mad, there's almost no stopping him depending on what caused him to get like this. He sits up in his bed. "Dad…"

No response. Mint's heart sinks. He knows what could happen and he doesn't want that to be the case. "...D-dad? Please say something…"

His head turns towards him and the shadow lightens up a bit but his face is extremely tense and his looks strike fear into Mint. Only one thing came to his mind: a brutal fight is about to break out between him and either Patricia or Brian.

He speaks, his voice so deep and wrathful. "**Stay here. Whatever I'm about to do, I don't want my precious son or mate getting involved with it because someone is gonna be on the ground bleeding**."

Emilia stands up and shakes a little for a second. "Ross… please don't… remember last time?" she says.

He takes a few steps towards the drapes, then looks over his shoulder. "**I do, and this time I won't be coming out of it with a broken arm or ribs.**" he then gets on all fours and runs out of the den.

Mint, despite being in a bit of pain, jumps out of his bed and goes on all fours to give chase to him. He doesn't know what he's planning, but just from those words alone, he can't let him do whatever it is. His mother goes to grab him but he's still speedy even when injured. She has no choice but to give chase to both of them. As Mint calls out to his father, a sense of dread and guilt comes over him. He can't catch him because Ross is a bit faster than him but Emilia manages to catch up to Mint and they both exchange a few different looks between each other and only one thing's for certain: All of them are going to be in deep shit once everything is done and over.

* * *

**PD: Oh boy...**


	6. Retaliation

**Retaliation**

The late afternoon sun beats down on the colony. After the big battle that went down between Patricia and Mint, everyone has been a bit uneasy. It doesn't help that at this very moment in time, Ross is out for blood over what happened. Only one thought exists in his head: The one that's going to be on the ground bleeding in a mangled mess.

While running towards the main colony, he managed to get far ahead of Mint and Emilia. He heard them calling his name out back on the path, but he didn't pay attention to them. He ran as fast as he could to shake them off his tail. He hopes they give up and go home but deep down, he knows they're coming to stop him and will eventually find out what he wants to do.

Now in the main colony, he makes haste to Brian's den. He knows he's home, for he does nothing all day and sits around on his ass waiting for death to take him. Looks like it arrived much earlier than usual. Ross bangs on the door with his right paw. "Yo, open this piece of wood up or I'm kicking it down myself!" he yells.

The door opens almost instantly and instead of Brian, it's Patricia. She goes to say "hello" but then realizes just EXACTLY who it is. "Hello, that's quite the-" she cuts herself off and gasps loudly when she sees him. She takes a few steps back quickly and falls on her butt.

From within the den, Brian shouts to her. "Who's at the door and why'd you scream like a baby?"

She turns her head to face his direction. "I-It's… It's…"

"It's who? Stop stuttering and answer me!" he says.

"I-it's Mint's father!" she blurts out as fast as she can. She stands up off the ground and runs deeper into the den, fearful that he might grab her and hurt her.

Brian can hardly believe what she said. "Mint's father? What kind of lies are you telling me…" he stands up from where he's sitting and heads for the front door. Upon reaching it, Ross stands there, arms crossed and his right foot tapping.

He's grown impatient and was getting ready to go in himself but this works better. "About time your fat ass started to move."

Brian gives him a smug look. "Nice to see you too asshole, seems you haven't changed in the 15 years since I last saw you."

Ross gets right up in his face. "Oh I've changed quite a bit in those 15 years… and if there's one thing I still don't stand for, it's bastards like you doing whatever you want and allowing your own hellspawn to do as they please with no consequences."

He has an idea of what he's talking about but decides to try and dance around it and pushes him back a little with his face. "You're spitting some bullshit. Speak in a language we both understand dammit."

"Oh, I spoke in a language we both understand. Don't play stupid with me, you KNOW what your daughter did, I swear on my life that she told you about it."

This makes him crack a smile. "Aww… it's a shame he got his ass kicked. That's what happens when you make threats but can't go through with them."

Ross grabs him by the fur on his chest, pulls him outside, and slams him into exterior walls of the den, pinning him in place. "My SON has a broken nose and probably a broken spirit after that brutal beating he took. If it wasn't for an outside visitor, he would've probably suffered from major blood loss! She got him real good, and for that, I want her head on a burning stake…" his voice is deep and extremely aggressive.

Brian cockily responds. "Oh, what's wrong? Your son, who was _supposedly_ the strongest Minccino in his age group, got beat and you can't accept that, so you come to my den looking for a fight?" he grabs Ross' paw and pushes him away. He chuckles lowly before cracking his paws. "Alright, I'm game."

Ross glares daggers at him. "You're a fat ass… unlike me, you've grown old and slow. I've stayed fit and kept working, that's how we make our living. Shit isn't given to you on a silver platter you know. I'll knock you on your ass so fast that you won't know what happened."

Brian scoffs at this. "You, knock me on MY ass? I'd like to see that happen with my own eyes! You've grown old too, and the same problems apply to you just as they apply to me."

He then proceeds to rush at Ross with all of his might. He catches him and Brian manages to push him back a little but Ross resists and stops him. They both grunt and growl at each other as once again, another big fight starts, but this time, being knocked out with with a broken nose is going to seem like a stroke of luck.

Brian takes the first attack and goes to use 'Iron tail' but Ross is fast and manages to catch the attack in his paws. He takes a little damage but nowhere near what it could've been. He grips his tail and proceeds to swing him over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground. This allows him to use 'Retaliate'. He takes a small step back, then with blinding speed, smashes into Brian and sends him flying.

He takes massive damage from this attack due to Mint being injured earlier. Brian stands up and walks it off as nothing though and uses 'Swift'. Star shaped rays appear around him and he throws his paws forwards and they all fly at Ross. He wastes no time and counters using 'Hyper voice'. He emits a massive scream that generates a damaging sound wave and destroys all the Star rays.

Brian follows through with 'Gunk Shot' and at such a close range, this attack is very difficult to avoid. He hurls a massive blob of garbage at Ross and although he tries to dodge it, a small piece of it hits him and he takes a bit of damage from it. Nothing too major luckily. While he's recovering from that, Brian runs at him and manages to tackle him to the ground. Unlike Patricia, he doesn't know 'Doubleslap' but he knows his paws clenched into tight fists will hurt just as well and he begins to punch Ross in the face repeatedly.

Ross takes 4 punches before kicking Brian off and away from him. He stands up quickly and takes this opportunity to prepare his next move as Brian gains his balance. He turns around to see the blast from the move 'Focus Blast' coming at him and although it should hit, he's quick to respond and dodges it, retaliating with 'Swift' once again.

Unlike before, Ross is unable to avoid it and the star shaped rays pelt him. He's then knocked back by Brian using 'Iron tail' once again. The attack was quite powerful and leaves a nasty gash on his stomach that starts to bleed a little. Ross takes a look at the damage and then looks up at him with a death stare.

Brian snickers confidently. If he can keep this up, he'll be able to take Ross down in a few more hits. Ross on the other hand, despite being injured badly, doesn't show signs of pain or weakness. He's not gonna let him get away with allowing Patricia to hurt Mint. He grinds his teeth and lowers his head, he HAS to beat him. His own son looks up to him for how tough and strong he is, he has to keep it that way.

Ironically, out of the corner of his eye, he sees Mint and Emilia. They've finally arrived on the scene just to see Ross about to get hit with Brian's secret move. Normally, most Minccino cannot learn the move 'Close Combat' but when he was younger, Brian had gotten training from a fighting type Pokemon who knew the move and with time, managed to pass the move down to him. Ross shifts his attention back to Brian, only for him to be slugged across the face hard.

Mint's eyes go wide and he gasps at what he sees. Emilia does the same thing but to a lesser extent. She knew this could've happened, because 15 years ago, Brian had used the same move and managed to knock Ross out, leaving him with a few broken bones. Mint gets over the initial shock of this and screams out to his father. "DAD!"

Ross can't do anything but take blow after blow rapidly on every area of his body. Brian laughs in a way that comes off as pure evil as he hits him hard and fast. "What's the matter Ross!? About to faint to my secret move 15 years later!?"

What he said is true. 15 years ago, the two got into a very long and bloody fight that ended with Brian using 'Close Combat' and utterly demolishing Ross. If he doesn't do something, he's definitely going to lose this fight as well. The attack ends and Brian finishes it off with a nasty uppercut, causing Ross to be thrown into the air, blood flying out of his mouth in the process. He lands on the ground, barely clinging onto consciousness and completely dazed. Brian begins to walk towards him slowly, getting ready to use his final move and end the fight.

On the side, Mint's mouth is wide open in shock. He can't believe what just happened, his own father being beaten by the vile, disgusting Brian. He's never seen his father in such a wounded and hurt state. He can't stand to see this and within him, a fury similar to what happened during his battle earlier begins to form inside of him. His father is supposed to protect him, not get beaten up like this. Without thinking, his tail begins to glow a bright white but slowly starts turning to a bloody red and then a deep red color. It also starts to heat up extremely fast as he seems to be using a significantly stronger variant of 'Tail Slap'. His head lowers down a little and even though the injuries from earlier still sting and pain him, he doesn't get affected by this and instead, focuses on saving his dad.

Brian stands over Ross. he spits in his face. "That's what you get, Ross. 2 losses, first one 15 years ago, and the one that's about to be clocked in, and that's too bad." He looks over and notices Mint and Emilia are there but doesn't notice Mint's white-hot attack hidden behind his body. "Especially when you make a fool out of yourself for the second time in front of your lover, and for the first time in front of that poor excuse for a son too."

Ross coughs and spits up a little blood mixed in his saliva. he goes to move his arms, but he can't and flinches in extreme pain. Instead, he speaks in a weak and quiet tone. "Y-you're gonna… regret this in… the long run…"

Brian takes his comment and ignores it. "It's quite a shame. You tried to be something you're not once again. You let your strength go to your head and make you completely forget that your old pal Brian is a just a bit stronger than you are. 15 years can really make you forget what someone is capable of you know. Too bad you didn't realize that sooner."

Mint can't take much more of this and he fidgets in place. Emilia notices this and speaks to him. "Mint, don't do it… you can't beat him. You're too hurt to fight without getting hurt even more."

He looks at her in the eyes and responds. "I-I have to do something…! Dad's in trouble and if I don't do anything, he's gonna be hurt real bad..." his voice shakes and he seems to be on the verge of screaming out in anger.

Brian prepares 'Iron tail' and takes one last good look at Ross. "While you tried to avenge your son who is nothing but a failure in every which way, you yourself forgot that you are just the same as him. Both failures. You failed to beat me back then and you failed now. Go to bed and sleep with that, let it eat you up and spit you out alive."

He goes to swing his tail down on Ross' stomach but right before he has a chance to, Mint comes charging at him with a speed that he's never shown before until now and whacks him in the face with his tail. This stops Brian's attack and makes him slide a few feet away. Mint lands on the ground, then jumps at him and screams at the top of his lungs. **"Leave my father** **alone!**"

He hits Brian across the face with his tail again with more force and strength than before. He spins around and hits him in the face again. He keeps doing this, hitting Brian back and forth across the plaza while screaming loudly. Brian can't do anything and as Mint lands his 7th and final hit, he stumbles back a few feet before gaining his balance. He goes to say something but instantly faints and falls face first on the ground.

Mint stands there, panting heavily as he looks at what he's done. Emilia runs up to him and drags him away from Brian's unconscious body. She can't believe he lashed out at him like that and actually managed to defeat him. She has no time to dwell on it though because Ross is in critical condition. She kneels down to his side and speaks to him.

"Ross! Can you hear me?" she says in a clear but sad voice.

He turns his head slowly to face her and he speaks but in a pained, weak tone. "Emilia…? what's… what's going on…?"

He was hit so hard by 'Close Combat' that he's almost unconscious and doesn't remember what he was doing or what was going on. Emilia tries to pick him up and Mint immediately helps her. They drape him over their shoulders and he grunts in pain but immediately faints. This is probably due to his arms being broken and the blood loss from the gash on his stomach as it's now bleeding more than it was earlier and this worries her.

"He needs medical attention… we have to leave the forest and head to one of those human towns or cities. We can't heal him by ourselves." she says, a very worried look on her face.

Mint's right eye is partially open, his own wounds are being aggravated by the weight on his shoulders and the pain writes itself on his face, but he tries his best to ignore it and nods. They have a long way to go from Pinwheel Forest to the nearest town/city, which is Nacrene City. They'll have to travel deep into Pinwheel forest and go through a completely unfamiliar part of it in order to reach the route that brings them to said city. They'll also be against the clock as during this time of year, the sun goes down quickly when it isn't paid any attention. If they can't get through the forest before the sun goes down, they just might not ever come back home again if the rumors about vicious Pokemon are true.

* * *

**PD: Slightly shorter chapter. Let's count... that's 2 Minccino injured in a single day, and they're both from the same family too. Will Ross be okay? Will Mint and Emilia be able to get through Pinwheel forest and make it to Nacrene City? The only way to find out is to read the next chapter, so seeya then!**


	7. All My Fault

**All My Fault**

Mint and Emilia make haste as best as they can to get through the entirety of Pinwheel Forest. On their shoulders is Ross in critical condition thanks to losing the battle he started against Brian. As the two Minccino attempt to bring him to Nacrene City, they realize there's a chance they might not be able to beat out the clock. The evening sun is starting to quickly drop lower and lower in the horizon with each passing minute.

Mint and Emilia have never gone this far into Pinwheel Forest. The unfamiliar territory is not only confusing, but could possibly hold a dangerous secret. Even though the rumors have been proven somewhat true, there still isn't any guarantee that those vicious Pokemon will actually attack. They're not taking any chances though, and any little sound that's out of place from the natural ambiance of the forest makes them look in the direction it came from.

The orange glow of the sky through gaps in the tree leaves only further signifies the race against the clock, but they're not just racing against that either. Ross had sustained serious injuries, one of which includes a massive gash across his stomach that hasn't stopped or slowed its bleeding since it was inflicted onto him. He also has broken arms and possibly, more broken bones they don't know about.

Emilia and Mint breathe heavily as they take hard steps that dig into the dirt and push them forward closer and closer to their destination. During this entire trip, neither of them have spoken a single word to each other. Their focus and willpower is on the task at hand, making sure they don't fail and leave Ross to potentially have life threatening complications from said condition.

While they haven't spoken, they definitely have been thinking a lot about the events that have taken place during the entire day. A feeling of guilt begins to form inside of Mint, he knows that if he defeated Patricia, his father wouldn't be in this condition.

"_This is my fault… he wouldn't be like this if I just followed through with the threats I made to her…_" he thought to himself.

Emilia can tell he's thinking about something heavy, and while she wants to ask him, she decides the best course of action is to leave him alone. They continue to push forward, eventually coming to a fork in the road with no signs to lead them. One of these routes will lead them to Nacrene City, while the other will end up getting them lost. Looking down the path to the right, it seems that it ends up curving back the way they came, while the path on the left seems to meander off deeper into the forest. If they get lost, they'll be in danger for the entire night and Ross might not make it. The chance is one they have to take and with a few glances between each other, Mint and Emilia decided to take the left path.

It would seem that this path looks to be the right way, but they wouldn't know since they've never been this far out. They come across a fallen tree whose trunk is hollowed out like a little tunnel. Emilia has heard about fallen tree trunks being close to the entrance of the Skyarrow Bridge, a sign that they're heading the right way.

They climb over the trunk and walk across, continuing along the path after they hopped down from it. The trees begin to seemingly lighten up and the dying light of the evening starts becoming clearer and clearer. For the first time the entire trip, Emilia says something, albeit very much out of breath. "We're… almost there… the trees… are getting… lighter… the route… is… just ahead…"

Mint hears her but doesn't respond and starts walking a bit faster. A few more minutes of walking and they finally reach the paved route that goes straight through the forest. Some say the route cuts through the middle of it, but there's no factual proof of that. Looking down towards the left, the checkpoint gate that leads to the Skyarrow Bridge can be seen. It's the longest and biggest bridge in the Unova region and extension, the entire Earth. This leads to Castelia City, and while they could go there to get help, the bridge is very long and they don't have the time to make it across before darkness falls.

They head down towards the right. This way leads to Nacrene City and more importantly: Medical attention. As they walk along the route, a few humans see them and watch them. Some of them seem like they want to help, but even though Mint and Emilia wouldn't attack them, the world is only just starting to bounce back from the reign of an evil president who instituted laws that harmed human-Pokemon relationships. They've been improving slowly, but it's still a bit iffy.

Luckily, this hasn't stopped people from reviving Pokemon Centers and Pokemon Hospitals to help local wild Pokemon that've been injured. Nacrene City just so happens to have both tied into one building, and as Mint and Emilia step foot into the checkpoint gate, their heavy souls breathe a small sigh of relief. They've made it without anything trying to kill them.

They walk through the other side of the gate and take a gander at Nacrene City in all its glory. Unlike all the other places in the Unova region, Nacrene City is very unique in that the buildings that exist here are all redesigned warehouses that were built over a 100 years ago. Every home, store, and cafe is incorporated into its own warehouse, making them very spacious. In the southern portion of the city, there's some retired train tracks, perhaps in the early days, trains used to run from the mainland region all the way over to places like this. Finally, one of the biggest tourist sites to see here is the Nacrene museum which houses many ancient Pokemon fossils.

Mint and Emilia aren't here to sight-see, they immediately head for the large orange and white painted warehouse, the Pokemon Hospital. Luckily for them, the place isn't crowded and when they enter, they're immediately able to get the attention of a few nearby nurse Blissey and Chansey. They take Ross onto a stretcher and administer him in. This allows Mint and Emilia to finally catch their breath.

Mint pants heavily, the pain from his own wounds is intense and he flinches a little bit. He looks up at Emilia and she gives him a weak smile. She knows that he's in pain, but what she doesn't know are the thoughts going through his mind. They decide to take a seat on the nearby chairs in the main lobby so they could give their feet a rest.

Emilia tries to converse with him. "We made it… despite not knowing where we had to go with that fork in the path."

He nods and replies quietly. "...yeah… guess we're just very lucky…"

He looks out of the large, clear window to his left and the sun is halfway below the horizon and in about half an hour or 45 minutes, it will have disappeared from sight. Looks like they'll be staying here for the night, but if Mint were to run at top speed, he just might be able to make it back home before total darkness hits. He considers it, but perhaps it might be better to stay here for the night, maybe even get checked out by the hospital staff just to make sure he doesn't have anything else broken from his battle earlier.

Emilia sighs. "I wish your father didn't do that… I knew this would have happened… but what was that all about before, you attacking Brian despite knowing he could've smashed you into the ground easily?"

Mint doesn't know what she's talking about, he only recalls standing next to his father before having to pick him up. "...w-what do you mean? I-I attacked… B-brian?"

She nods. He looks at the ground. He really has no recollection of that happening. "I guess seeing him beating up dad just made me so upset that rage and anger took control of me…"

"It's alright, you stopped him from further harming your father. What matters is that we're all here and he's gonna be okay now thanks to us." she then gives him a smile, but he knows that deep down, she is hiding something.

He continues to look at the ground. His eyes fall half open. He feels guilty about what happened. "_I should've kicked her ass… I should've just swallowed down the worry of everyone else trying to defend her and just waste her then and there. I made my father attack in an attempt to protect me and because of that, he's hurt bad… it's my fault_" he thinks to himself as a shiny tear droplet falls from his eye.

Emilia sees this. "What's wrong Mint? Why are you crying?"

He quickly turns to her and raises his voice. It breaks as he speaks. "I did this…! I made him attack Brian because he was trying to protect me. He probably wanted to make a point to both him and Patricia that I'm not someone they can just get away with beating up! Because of me… he… h-he's… he's… It's all my fault!"

He breaks away from her, jumps off the seat, and runs out of the hospital. She's a bit slow to react and calls out to him right as he rushes out the door. "Mint! Wait!" it's too late, he's gone.

He runs off towards the checkpoint gate for Pinwheel Forest. He stops in front of it, expecting his mother to come for him at any second. Tears run down his face and he doesn't want to hear it from her about it not being his fault. If he didn't get in a fight… if he didn't let Patricia beat him up… if he never attacked her on that day… none of this would've happened. He, his mother, and his father would all be at home right now eating some berries or out doing their own things.

Then again, he'd probably still be bullied by those two, and ignored or scoffed at by the rest of the colony. He hears that familiar voice calling out to him. "Mint! Where are you!?"

He looks back, should he go back to her and hear the same thing he's heard from her for the 80th time or should he just run home, hoping he can beat out the sun yet again? As much as he wants to, a small part of him is telling him to stay. She might have something important to say and against his better judgement, he walks away from the gate entrance and towards her voice.

They meet near the cafe. She got very worried but this eases up when she sees him standing in front of the cafe. She goes up to him and notices the tear stains on his fur. "You can't run off like that… especially in a place like this."

He rolls his eyes, at this point, he could care less if a human came and caught him or if he got lost and kidnapped by a predator or something.

She puts her left paw on his shoulder. "I know you feel like you're at fault for all of this, but your father made the decision to go after Brian by himself."

He knew she would say something like that. "...He didn't make that decision because it was of his own will, he did that because of what happened to me. If I didn't get beat up by Patricia, this wouldn't have happened."

She shakes her head. "No, whether you beat her up or not, something like this would've still happened. Brian would've probably wanted to go after you and in the process, your father would still get hurt like this. It's not your fault."

He grinds his teeth and speaks through them, angry at her for not seeing it the way he sees it. "...I-It's my fault! How come you can't see that!? Dad attacked Brian because he was trying to protect me! If I never hurt Patricia to begin with, none of this would've happened! Brian wouldn't have been knocked out by me, Dad wouldn't be in the hospital, I wouldn't have gotten my ass kicked, and we'd all be at home dealing with the usual problems we always deal with! IT'S MY FAULT!"

Emilia falls silent. As much as she wants to help him and comfort him, he's hellbent on what he said. She sighs and takes her paw off his shoulder. She notices the big tuft of fur on his head is a bit dirty and she brushes the dirt off. He immediately backs away when she's finished.

"Don't touch me! I'll clean the fur on my body by myself! Your paws don't deserve to touch such a filthy Pokemon like me!" he yells.

She takes a step back. He's starting to break, the guilt that he feels for what he thinks he caused is making bad thoughts enter his mind and influence his actions. He looks up at the sky. It's starting to turn from orange to red, a sign that time is running out. A shadow falls over his face and he turns away from her to face the gate once again.

He says his final words to her in a low and deep tone. "I'm going home. I don't know what you're gonna do, but I'm a disgrace to you and dad. If he asks where I am, don't tell him anything. I don't need him trying to get out in an attempt to save me from threats that don't exist. I caused him enough pain for one day."

Before she can speak, he takes off running at top speed on all fours and heads into the gate. He's out at the other end before anyone inside can comprehend what ran past them. He hopes his mother doesn't try to follow him, he doesn't want to be told that he's not at fault for what happened. Everything that happened today is surely his fault and nobody can tell him different.

He runs onto the path heading back home, dark thoughts and words that have been said to him in the past start painting themselves into his mind, repeatedly being spoken to him by the Pokemon that've put him down since day one.

"_You're not a Minccino, you're a green sewer rat and last I checked, we don't appreciate radioactive Raticate around here."_

"_You're a runt, that's all you'll ever be. You're not fit enough to handle a job like this, let a REAL Minccino handle it"_

"_I'm surprised anybody in this colony talks to you. Nobody loves you, you're an abomination that shouldn't exist, and a disgrace to your parents in every which way."_

"_Why is your fur all green? Are you sick? Oh wait, I've heard about you… what you really need is a bath to wash all the slime off so you can show us that you're actually a real Minccino and not some lab experiment gone wrong."_

"_You're a failure. Both you and your father. It doesn't matter if you catch a world record size fish, or if you grow to be stronger than me, or manage to control your own business and trade routes… you're a runt, a failure, and will always be that way no matter what."_

"_Mint is a stinky yucky green slimeball! Mint is a stinky icky yucky green sewer rat!_"

"_You're disgusting! Patricia and Rachel told me to stay away from you!"_

"_You're a mute! A MUTE!"_

"_I know you want to kill yourself, only cowards and abominations that have no purpose in life think like that!"_

He can't ignore them, these words echoed in his mind endlessly and he can only cry and push his speed beyond anything he's ever run at. He's become a bit unstable due to his thinking and combined with the guilt and depressing feelings overcoming him, he just wants to go home, lie down, and sleep the rest of the week off. He hopes that in doing that, he'll wake up from this second, worse nightmare and return to the regular nightmare he's always living in.

He rushes past the fork in the path and from here on out, it's basically a straight path with a few gentle turns. He isn't really looking at where he's going because of the tears in his eyes and he doesn't notice a familiar fellow from a day ago walking along said path, whistling a tune to himself.

Due to his sheer speed, he can't stop in time and he crashes into him. This knocks him down and they both slide a fair distance to a stop. The Pokemon he crashed into was Scott, guess he was staying somewhere rather local and just so happened to be on the path at the same time as Mint.

He rubs his back. "OW! Man… wha'd ya have to go an' do that for… I ain't harming anybody! Can't a guy get some nice tunes for himself out in a forest such as the likes of this one?"

He then notices that the Pokemon who crashed into him is Mint. He stands up and takes a few steps back. "Whoa! It's my lil kiddie champ I saw that one night!" he extends his hand out for Mint to grab onto.

Mint doesn't wanna deal with him, the last thing he wants, in his opinion, is chatty mcchatbox chewing his ears off on his way home. He doesn't disrespect him though, and takes the courtesy and grabs his hand. Scott pulls him up and chuckles a bit before noticing that he seems to have been through some hard times.

"Whoa now… have you been gettin' into nightclub brawls or somethin'? You look like you took part in a massive bar fight!" he says, trying to ease the slightly awkward situation of being knocked into.

Mint doesn't respond and instead, begins walking at a brisk pace to try and get away from him. Scott isn't gonna let him off THAT easily. "Hey! I'm talkin' to ya here! At least give me the answer to my question." he starts to follow him.

Mint looks back and notices he's following him and speeds up more. Scott does the same. This goes on for some time until Scott's had enough and runs in front of him and stops him dead in his tracks.

"Alright mister! I'm stoppin' ya right here and you're not gettin' past! What the hell's going on with ya? Ya look like you're about to cry, you seem as if you were dragged across a dirty floor, and to top it all off, you got this nasty expression on your face!" he says, hoping to get an answer out of him.

Mint looks at the ground, speaking lowly and quietly. "P-please move…"

He shakes his head. "No can do. You're in need of help and I'm not letting you past until you tell me what's going on. I may seem like an annoying shithead to you, but I swear that when a friend is in need, I'll be there for them in no time. Now c'mon, tell me what's buggin' ya."

Mint can't believe he figured out how he felt about him. _"W-what kind of Pikachu IS he? How did he know about me f-feeling like that towards him? O-of course, he's not r-really like that, but he i-is annoying…_" he thought to himself before sighing.

As much as he doesn't want to make conversation with anyone, let alone the Pokemon he met only a few days ago and barely knows at all, it doesn't seem like he has much of a choice in the manner. This is only just wasting his time too, and every second counts at this point as he looks up at the half purple, half red sky. The sun has set and the last rays of light it gives off beyond the horizon are starting to die and soon enough he'll be stuck in this unfamiliar part of the forest with Scott and no means of figuring out if he's on the right path home or on the path to death.


	8. It's Not All Gloom And Doom

**It's Not All Gloom And Doom**

Scott stands in front of Mint, waiting for an answer. He's not kidding around, he'll stand there and block his way until he says something. The light of day is almost gone and the two stand in an almost midnight black forest due to the trees and leaves casting shadows over everything in sight. Scott taps his foot with his arms crossed.

"I told ya, I'm not movin' until ya tell me what's goin' on. Ya look like ya went to hell and somehow came back."

Mint knows that if he doesn't say anything, he won't be getting home anytime soon, so while hesitant, he decides to spit it out. "... I…. I got i-into a fight…"

This surprises him a little. "A fight!? Ya don't look the sort of type to start one though." he scratches his chin. "Who'd you knockout?"

Mint looks away from him. Scott immediately understands that he didn't knock anyone out, but rather, he was the one that ended up getting the beat down. "I see… so you ended up gettin' your ass handed to ya?"

He nods.

Scott smiles. "Ain't nothin' wrong with that. So what? You got into a fight and couldn't knock the other one down… big deal! The fact that you tried to fight is already a big statement by itself. You should be proud! At least you aren't on the ground, immobile, and have multiple broken bones that require medical attention at a hospital or somethin'."

This pinches a nerve and Mint gets right up in his face. "S-Say that t-to my father!" he says with a very upset tone.

Scott backs up. "Whoaaaa… a lil personal space champ…" he then clears his throat. "You're tellin' me that instead of you bein' in a stretcher in a hospital, your father is the one who ended up like that? What the hell happened in order for a fight to result in you escaping relatively unharmed but have your father be critically injured?"

Mint doesn't want to talk about it. The thought of it makes him angry and upset. He grunts and simply pushes Scott aside and continues on the path down to his home. Scott isn't satisfied yet. "Hey! We weren't done here!"

He walks quickly to catch up to him and walks alongside him. "Tell me what happened!"

Mint shakes his head. Scott looks at him for a moment but then thinks about just exactly what could've gone down. "Hmm… did your father try to take an attack for you?"

No response.

"Did your attack accidentally miss and hit your father instead?"

No response.

"I get it! You were about to be knocked down and your father tried to counter the opponent's final attack and ended up getting hurt in the process?"

Yet again, no response.

"C'mon man! I'm tryin' my best to figure it out! You're givin' me the cold shoulder over something that clearly seems to be botherin' you? That's not right…"

Mint begins to growl lowly. He's getting annoyed by Scott's persistence. In his eyes, he clearly doesn't know when to stop talking nor does he know how to stay out of someone else's business. He begins to walk a little bit faster but Scott only speeds up to match him.

He crosses his arms. "Why are you being so uptight and reclusive?"

This question is something he's heard from his parents a few times in the past and it only annoys him even more. He stops walking and quickly turns around to face him. "Look…"

Scott stops literal inches away from him, almost crashing in the process. Mint takes a deep breath as to not sound nasty or annoyed. "I… I get that y-you're trying to help… b-but… I really, really don't… I really don't w-want to be bothered. Y-you're annoying me and I-I just want to be left a-alone."

Scott takes a moment to process what he said, but he fully understands. "Alright. fine. Suit yourself. I, however, need a place to stay for the night. I heard this forest can be dangerous at night and last time I was here, I kept feeling like someone was watching me and I heard strange noises every once-in-a-while. I don't wanna become food so I'm sticking with you for the night. If you won't let me help you, at least help me."

He's fine with this, but only under one condition. "You can stay… but p-please leave me alone and don't t-talk to me…"

He nods. "Alright, got it. I won't say a single word to you unless a pack of Houndoom or something start attacking."

"_Oh Arceus… I hope that doesn't happen, we'd all be dead-meat for sure._" he whispers to himself.

As they walk, they faintly hear the sound of a Pokemon howling, it doesn't sound to be intimidating or scary, but it sounds ever so slightly out of place. There are Herdier and Stoutland living in the forest, but they're very far from the Minccino colony and hearing one of their howls is either a sign of danger or simply an attempt to roll-call everyone in their colony. Scott goes to comment on it, but he remembers what Mint told him and he keeps his mouth shut, although his thoughts tell him that he has a bad feeling about that howl.

Mint's den isn't too far away, and after nearly 8 minutes of walking, they arrive. Mint presents the den to him, holding his left paw out towards it. "Here it is, this is my home."

Scott raises an eyebrow at it. The place is quite small to him. "What the…? This place is tiny!"

Mint gives him an annoyed look. "... I know it's not much, b-but you don't have to t-tell me that it's small…"

He shrugs. "Naw… I'm just sayin'. The dens back at my colony were much much bigger, but then again, they housed many of us at once so perhaps I'm used to that."

Mint waves it off. "Whatever…" and then parts the drapes away and goes inside. Scott follows him.

Even though the outside looks small, the inside is actually bigger than he thought it was. "...I take it back, if you're the one who made this den, you're a master of disguise. This place is much bigger than the exterior made it out to be."

The compliment is more geared towards his parents as they were the ones that made the place, but Mint takes it. "T-thank you…"

Scott decides to take a look around the place and while he's doing that, Mint sneaks off to his bed to grab the pendant out from underneath. He gets on his knees and reaches under to grab it. He pulls it out and notices that it stopped shining and glowing but still reflects the dim light inside the den.

"_I still need to figure out why the elder gave me this thing…_" he thought to himself as he looked over his shoulder to make sure Scott didn't see him do this.

He stands up and hides the pendant in his right paw, cupping it firmly before going over to the table and taking a seat. Scott finishes his little house tour and decides to sit on the other side of the table. The two don't share any words between each other for what feels like the next hour but in reality, only 20 minutes pass by.

Scott sighs, he can't take the silence anymore. "Fuck it.. I know you said not to bother you but this silence is driving me crazy! How can you stand it?"

Mint shrugs. "If you can't stay quiet… then it is w-what it is…"

Scott stands up and goes over to the berry pile. He decides to procure some and brings it back to the table. "Pecha, Sitrus, Oran, and Cheri berries…. Haven't had them in a while."

He begins to eat and while he does that, this gives Mint some time to look down at the pendant that's sitting on his lower stomach. He thinks about what the elder had told him.

"_Whenever you're feeling down, look at this pendant and remember that not everything in your life is bad. There's many good things to be happy about and when you look at the pendant, I want you to remember all those good things._"

He chuckles under his breath. Good things? What's currently in his life right now is as far away from good as one can get. His life is nothing short of the definition of terrible. His father's at the hospital with many broken bones and won't be coming back for a while for sure, his mother is stuck with his father to ensure his recovery goes well, thus he has no parental figures or anyone he trusts to fall back on in his darkest times, the entire colony will probably want him burned on a stake for fighting Patricia, She and Rachel along with all the others will probably bully and insult him for both being beat up and not having a father that's capable of winning a fight, AND he's all alone with some Pikachu he doesn't know if he can trust yet.

That's not the Cheri berry on top of the Casteliacone though, the worst part about all of this is that anything could happen to him now and without anyone to be there to possibly help him, he could end up seriously injured, or worse: **dead**. The whole situation with his life is as bad as it could get with the only few things that could be worse being him losing both his parents, his home, and or being captured by humans or attacked by a predator Pokemon like a Houndoom. Everything is going to shit and there's nothing he can do to make it better.

He chuckles again, but it's a bit louder this time and he speaks under his breath. "_Think about the good things… there's nothing good about anything that happened to me over the last few days. You'd have to be extremely crazy or insane to think that any of this has even a single shred of good in it!_" He looks down at the pendant and grips it tightly, wishing that the elder was there. At LEAST she could tell him something that would make him feel better.

Apparently, his voice is much louder than he thought and Scott manages to catch wind of what he said. He speaks with a bit of berry in his mouth so it's slightly muffled. "There's nothing good in your life? What're you talking about?"

He snaps his eyes up to meet his and a drop of sweat rolls down his head. "N-n-nothing! Y-you heard n-nothing…"

He clearly heard something and he's not taking no for an answer. He swallows and then sits up from the table to go see what he was looking at. "What were you looking down at, it seemed like you were looking at something under the table."

Mint tries to hide the pendant, but in his panic, he fails to do so and as Scott rounds the table, he sees it. He looks at it for a second, then looks at Mint.

"I know you said you wanted to be left alone, but what's that? Is that a pendant?" he asks.

Mint sighs. "Y-yeah… but it's not important…"

Scott swipes it away from him. Mint jumps up and tries to get it back. "H-hey! I didn't say you could touch it! G-give it back!"

Scott faces his back towards him to prevent him from grabbing it out of his paws. He looks at it closely for a few seconds before turning around to face him. Mint manages to swipe it back and then Scott starts to giggle. Mint looks at him with an annoyed expression. "What's so funny!? T-there's nothing f-funny about it!"

Scott's voice goes a little bit high. "Why do you of all Pokemon have a pendant that looks like it belongs to a human girl!?" he then gets another thought in his head. "Or… is there someone in this colony that actually fancies you and since you _think_ nobody likes you, you simply kept it for yourself but know exactly who it is that has the hots for ya!"

Mint's cheeks become red and his voice gets quiet. "N-no… that's n-not it…"

Scott places his hands on his hips and leans forward a little. "Then why the quiet voice and rosy red cheeks? C'mon… I wanna see the lucky girl that wants you!"

Mint grips the pendant tightly. "... n-nobody loves me h-here… I-it's just…"

He pulls back. "It's just what? A 'just friends' thing?"

He sighs. "It's… it's from… it's from our colony elder…"

Scott's eyes widen a little. "Wait… the elder of your colony gave you something like that!? But why?"

He shakes his head. "W-well… she didn't r-really give it to me… I-it was her ghost…"

Scott starts to laugh for a few seconds. Her ghost? He doesn't believe what he's hearing. Ghosts don't exist at all. "Man! You're one slick comedian…" he then becomes serious. "Ghosts don't exist, they're only rumors and myths. Now, 'Ghost-type' Pokemon? They exist, but they're very different from 'Ghosts'. Ya saw a ghost? Ya had to have been dreamin' because there's no such thing!"

Mint makes a pouty face and whispers to himself. "_I know what I saw… you can't tell me what my eyes can and can't see…_"

Scott waves it off. "Ghost or not, that pendant is still very special. If the elder or her ghost gave it to you, then she saw something in you that nobody else can see. Elders are very weird that way, ya know?"

He knows what he means by that and he nods. They both look at the pendant. He decides to bring up the things he was talking about before. "Anyway, you mentioned something about your life not having anything good in it. Is there any particular reason as to why you said that?"

He shakes his head. "I-I said that because when she gave me the pendant, s-she said to look at it when I'm upset a-and think about all the good things I h-have in my life…"

Scott nods. "Alright, I can do that easily. I've got many good things in my life."

Mint looks at him. "Lucky. I wish I was more like you. At least you have a somewhat more normal life than I do. There's nothing about my life that has anything good in it."

He looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "You kiddin' me!? You have more shit in your life than I've ever had! My parents didn't decide to come with me when I had enough of being harassed back at home nor did they ever really help me feel better when I needed it the most! You should be very grateful that your parents give a shit about you!"

Mint looks down at the pendant. Besides what Scott had said, that's really it. There's nothing good about his life. "M-my parents ARE the only good thing in my l-life…"

Scott shakes his head. "Aw hell no!" he gets right up next to him, puts his arm around his neck and brings their cheeks together, squishing them against each other. "You listen here and listen good! You have a roof over your head, you had a childhood at the very least, your parents not only care about you but also help push you through tough times, you have a unique fur color that I'm sure nobody else has, and you were blessed by the colony elder's ghost!"

Mint looks down at the pendant and it suddenly starts to glow and radiate a sparkly aura. His eyes widen a little. Seems whenever he or someone else pushes him through something bad or tells him about the good things he has, it seems to glow. He didn't notice it before either, but there's a feeling of power also emanating from within as well. Perhaps the pendant has some sort of power that feeds off the good energy of one's thoughts and emotions.

Scott notices this. "Hey! I made the pendant glow!" he then squishes his and Mint's cheeks together more. "Ya see? Even the pendant thinks I'm right! I'd list off more things, but then we'd be here all night."

He breaks away from him. "Anyway, you should really focus more on the positive side of things. Heck, you should be glad that it wasn't you who ended up in the hospital or worse. You should also be glad that your father isn't dead as well. Things aren't as bad as they could've been ya know, and maybe the elder is right about thinking about the good things you have."

Mint slowly nods as he continues to look at the shining pendant. While the many bad things in his life seem to constantly outweigh the good, the reality of it is that there's more good than bad floating all around him. He just needs to start realizing it and use it to overcome dark times when he's all alone. For now though, he takes what Scott told him and thinks about it in the back of his mind.

He looks over to Scott. Even though he may not know everything going on in Mint's life, he did manage to help him today. "H-hey Scott.."

He looks over to him. "Yeah, what's up?"

Mint's eyes close a little and a very rare thing happens. "Thank you… thank you for helping me…" On his face is something that he hasn't had or felt for many years: **a wide smile and the warm fuzzy feeling of joy and happiness**.

* * *

**PD: Mint shows happiness? the stars must be aligning! hope you enjoyed and I'll seeya in the next chapter!**


	9. Stay Pure, Mint

**Stay Pure, Mint**

The early morning sunshine glazes over the world and brings an end to the darkness of the night. The rise and fall of both the sun and moon is a predictable cycle that one can always count on no matter where they are in the world. What isn't predictable is Mint's unusual early rise from bed. Normally used to sleeping past sunrise, instead he wakes alongside it. It isn't his fault though, for the subconscious mind he has is pondering over how his father is doing.

Even though he still feels a bit guilty about what happened yesterday, he's more worried about how long he'll have to live without his parents around at home. This is a thought that he should worry about once fully awake, as he still lies in his grassy bed with his dark brown eyes half-open. His vision is a bit blurry due to just waking up but a couple blinks of the eye and a quick rub to wipe away the sleepiness fixes it right up.

He never bothered to clean himself up last night and as such is still quite dirty from yesterday. He stands up from his bed and takes a quick glance at his stomach and arms. Filthy. This isn't an issue as he knows a nearby river that he could use to clean himself off, but, since Minccino are known to hate being dirty in the first place and obsess over even the slightest speck of dirt in their homes or on their fur, he knows that he's gonna be there for quite some time.

He takes a look over at Scott who is still asleep. Even though he had told him to leave him alone last night, Scott still got him to talk. Now, early in the morning, Mint has some time to himself, something he wanted ever since he ran from Nacrene City back to Pinwheel Forest. He goes to walk out of the den but before he does, he goes back to his bed and grabs the pendant out from underneath. He doesn't quite trust Scott to not touch it and would rather take it along with him.

He takes a good look at it and even though he isn't thinking about anything relatively good or bad, the pendant shines and has its usual sparkly aura. Mint is feeling okay right now, so perhaps some of that emotion is enough to make it sparkle. He's compelled to, once again, wear the pendant around his neck and unlike last time, he undoes the little latch on the back of the chain, puts it around his neck, and then secures the latch.

He adjusts it so that it doesn't disturb the fur on his chest and the pendant seems to glow a bit brighter and the sparkly aura intensifies a bit. He feels a warm yet powerful energy emanating from it. He doesn't know what to think about it but makes a mental note of it and then heads towards the drapes to leave.

He pushes the drapes out of his way and into the outside world. Almost immediately he's hit with a frigid breeze signifying that winter is only a couple weeks away. This chilly wind doesn't bother Mint because he actually loves colder weather. In fact, he wouldn't mind a bit of snow, it would definitely take his mind off all the events that've happened over the last few days.

He takes a deep breath as the wind blows his fur a little, making it wave. The long tuft of fur on his head is blown to the right side as there's nothing in place to keep it from moving. His fur isn't gonna clean itself so he decides to head on down towards the main colony but about 200 feet before the first few dens come into view, he makes a sharp right into what seems to be nothing but tall grass. There's a little path that he knows that will lead to the river in no time. As he heads down this path, he doesn't notice that in the grass on the left side of the main path, that strange stone still sits waiting to be picked up.

As he walks through the tall grass, he starts to think about a few things. "_That wind before was quite cold, winter's gonna be here before we know it. Some might say the winter is a depressing month but I've always found it to be quite beautiful, especially when it snows. Little white flakes of frozen water slowly drifting down from the sky, landing on the ground and sticking to one-another, accumulating at such a slow pace that one won't notice it until a few hours go by… The sound of the wind blowing in the midst of a blizzard, causing all those flakes to fly around in chaos… Waking up the next morning to a massive pile of snow blocking the entrance of the den…_"

He chuckles to himself. "_I wonder if we'll get snow early this year, it would be something that I for one would welcome. Something different and fun for once would be much better than all the garbage that I've went through._"

He eventually makes it to the riverside where a very large but extremely clean and crystal clear river flows. It's so clear that everything on the bottom can be seen with ease. The perfect place to wash up and clean off the dirt and grime caked into one's fur. He looks around to make sure nobody else is nearby, hence they'll definitely have something to say since it's him.

Nobody in sight… he jumps right in. The river is actually a bit deeper than he thought it would be and the water almost comes up to his neck. The water is also very cold, something that would bother almost anyone, but not Mint. The cold water on his fur and skin is not just refreshing, but also a bit calming as well. Since the water doesn't reach his head, he plunges his head straight under and takes his whole body with it. The water slightly stings his eyes due to how cold it is but it doesn't bother him.

He comes up and takes a somewhat large breath before shaking his head to get rid of excess water. He cleans his tail up first, since it's the only thing he uses to actually clean his body off. It's said that Minccino use their tails as mops, brooms, and even in special cases, sponges when cleaning their homes or themselves. It's important that the cleaning tool be clean before trying to, well… we know, right?

About a 10 minute soak in the water leaves his mint-green tail clean of any dirt and grime. This allows him to get to work on his body. Using his tail, he uses quite a bit of force and rubs his fur and skin quickly in the water. He rubs his stomach, his arms, under his arms, the pads on his paws, the space between his paws, his face, his back, his ears and the inside of his ears, and finally, the long tuft of fur on his head. This whole cleaning process, while it sounds like it would be fast, actually takes around an hour to fully complete.

He jumps out of the river and his mint-green fur color is not only restored, but seems to be a bit more vibrant and also has a sparkly shine to it as well. He shakes the excess water out of his fur and begins the next step in cleaning himself off: Grooming. Along with being clean freaks, Minccino also like to have well groomed fur, and the grooming process is just as long as the cleaning process.

At the end of it all, he's clean to the point where he could lick even the most dirty areas of his body and not worry about getting sick from it. His fur is also nice and straight as well as shiny and fluffy too. He finishes up by fixing the long tuft of fur on his head and once he's done with that he takes a breather and sits on a nearby rock. He remembers that the gauze on his nose is still there so takes it off nose and while it still hurts him a little, it seems to have healed up surprisingly fast. With nobody else around, the only thing that could be heard was his gentle breathing and the flow of the river.

With time to waste, he grabs the pendant with his left paw and takes a look at it once again. It's still glowing and radiating little sparkles as he holds it. He can't help but close his eyes, chuckle, and crack a small smile for a couple of seconds. Even though he's had a terrible string of events happen to him over the last few days, he's made it through all of it and things can only start to go back to where they used to be.

He lets the pendant hang freely from his neck and he looks around, admiring the nice scenery around him. Little things like this are part of what the elder had told him to think of, these are the things in life that make the big picture. He doesn't spend too much time looking though, for Scott's still at his den and he still doesn't trust him that much to leave him all alone for much longer. He hops off the rock and begins walking down the path back home.

As he comes to the main path, he notices something glistening in the grass on the other side. The one thing that comes to mind is that stone he found a few nights ago that seemed to respond to his presence. While his mind tells him to go to it, he decides to leave it for another time. He has to get home to make sure Scott isn't trying to do something he shouldn't be doing. He runs down the path on all fours, leaving the stone where it is once again. It shines and glistens as he runs away.

A few minutes later, Mint arrives back home and parts the drapes away to enter the den. To his surprise, Scott is nowhere to be found inside. He looks around with a sharp eye but doesn't see him hiding anywhere. He stands up from being on all fours and walks over to the table. Sitting there is a note, presumably from Scott himself. Mint picks it up and reads it to himself.

"_Eyyo! It's me Scott leavin' ya a note since ya weren't here when I woke up! I don't know where ya went, but I'm leavin' to venture out and see what else this forest has to offer to me, so I guess I'll see you around or something like last time. Thanks for lettin' me stay the night. Good luck with all the bad stuff and I hope everything turns out the way you want it to be. Just remember what we talked about last night and don't forget it, okay? I better not see you on the verge of crying the next time we meet, ya hear me? - Scott the Pikachu, with cool ears and a gnarly tail."_

He puts the note back down. At least he won't have to worry about him doing something stupid. Even though he doesn't see Scott as much of anything, he did help him out and as such, he hopes that nothing bad happens to him either. For now though, things are quiet around here and there's not much to do. Mint could go into the main colony, but he'd probably get attacked the moment he steps foot into the sight of anyone.

An idea pops into his head, and while it would be against what his parents told him, he wants to see if it's possible to find the elder's ghost again. He wants to find out the true purpose of the pendant and why she gave it to him instead of someone like Rachel or Patricia. He walks out of the den and runs down the path towards the main colony. He passes the stone on the way there but gives it no thought. Just like that night, when he got real close to it, it started to glow but the moment he gets far away, it stops glowing. While he pays it no attention, it's still in the back of his mind.

He enters the main colony, and while there shouldn't be that many Minccino awake at this time, it seems that everyone thought it would be a good idea to wake up early today. Mint wasn't planning on this happening. "_Damn… I guess the only thing I can do is hope and pray nobody wants me to be burned alive when they see me_." he whispers to himself.

He adjusts his feet a little, straightens his tail out, and perks his ears up as high as they can go. He doesn't wanna seem like the brutal beating he took yesterday made him upset, nor does he want it to seem like he's being affected by his father being almost knocked out either. He takes a deep breath, then starts walking forwards.

As he walks, anyone that can see him starts looking in his direction. They not only notice that he's extremely clean, healed up from the battle, and is rather happy looking despite what happened, but he's also wearing a strange pendant necklace. Mint pays no attention to the glances he's getting and keeps walking forwards. A few Minccino start to whisper to each other and he can clearly hear them even though they think they're slick.

"_He's in bright spirits today… I thought he'd never want to show his face around here after Patricia beat his ass._"

"_It looks like he took at as if it was nothing! I'm still surprised at what he said yesterday though. Who knew he had it in him to say such a bold thing?_"

"_He's all clean, guess he found time to lick his wounds and sleep off the beating…_"

"_What's he gonna say to Patricia? Are they gonna fight again?_"

"_Where'd he get that girly pendant? It looks like something an ugly human would wear._"

"_His father got beat down by Brian yet he's in a relatively good mood after seeing that happen. I also heard that he knocked Brian down as well."_

"_He's asking to get badly hurt. I hope he knows what he did is terrible and that Brian is wanting revenge._"

He ignores everything they whisper about him and he keeps walking. He reaches the plaza and stops for a few moments. He sees what happened here yesterday as his mind paints a recreation of what happened. He simply chuckles to himself, it's in the past now and by extension, not important anymore. He's expecting Rachel and Patricia to be around here somewhere since they're almost always at the fountain plaza. He doesn't hear them though, perhaps they decided to sleep in unlike everyone else.

Good thing, especially since they'd definitely bully him if they saw him right now. This puts him at ease a little bit since he won't have to deal with them for now. Even though eyes are on him, he doesn't care and heads towards the former elder's den, not worrying about what they might do to him once they see him ascend the stairs.

He reaches the base of the stairs and looks back. Ironically, the others have stopped staring and looking at him. After all, they do have better things to do than just stare at the most hated and disliked member of the colony. Everything is working out in his favor today, almost like the last time he broke into the den.

He does the same procedure he did last time to enter and gets in without any problems. He takes note of the dimly lit torches by the ladder. He climbs it and opens the hidden door leading into the elder's bedroom. He pulls himself up and inside and notices all the candles are lit once again. Perhaps the elder is around and he'll be able to figure out what the pendant is all about and why she gave it to him.

Unlike last time, he doesn't spend any time looking at the lit candles and goes straight out into the hallway. He goes down to the left end and goes to open the wooden door at the end but it doesn't budge. "_H-huh!? It won't open… this IS the room where I last saw her, right?_" he thought to himself as he tried to turn the knob again but with more force this time. The door doesn't budge and doesn't seem to want to open.

"_I guess she's not here, but then why were the candles all lit like before? She HAS to be here, those candles weren't lit all the other times I broke in here…_" he thought as he stepped back from the door.

He closes his eyes to think for a moment but as soon as he does that, he feels someone touch his left arm and he shoots his eyes open and looks over to see who it is. To his surprise, that bright light bathed, sparkly, soft voiced, but always happy Cinccino stands in front of him. She shakes her head slowly back and forth, she knows that he's done bad by breaking in once again.

Mint goes to speak but he can't think of anything to say. She simply grabs his left paw and gently tugs on him to follow and so he does. She walks him down the hall, past her bedroom, and they take a left at a small staircase and walk down. This brings them to her living room where she makes him take a seat in a very comfy chair. She walks over to the seat next to him and sits down. She claps her paws together once and then speaks.

"This makes two… two times you've broken in while I'm around. You must really have something to tell me or you have something you need to ask, don't you?" she says.

He nods. "Y-yes… it's about the p-pendant."

She looks at his neck and notices that he's wearing it. This surprises her in a good way. "My child… you're wearing the pendant? I didn't expect you to do such a thing, but I should've known. After all, they say that the best things are always kept close to the heart…"

She takes a good look at the rest of him, she can tell that he's been in a bit of a quarrel too. "You've also gotten into a little fight, haven't you?"

He nods, his cheeks turning red as he doesn't know what she might say but she doesn't seem to be upset by this at all. "That's okay, we all can't always avoid conflict when it's fated to happen. I will say that this conflict could've been avoided if you didn't attack Patricia a few days ago."

His ears droop down. "I-I know… I immediately regretted hitting her the moment s-she came over to me y-yesterday. She b-beat me up and caused my f-father…" he doesn't want to say the rest, just thinking about it makes him really upset.

She understands. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me the rest. Ross is strong, but he's not invincible. he should've been using his head more than his paws to fix the situation. He'll be just fine in a few days." She then shifts the subject. "But it seems you're starting to expand your horizons… I see you met a Pikachu named Scott."

He looks at her in wonder. She wasn't anywhere near him when they met each other but she still knows. It confuses him for a moment, but then he realizes it. "...y-you saw Scott?"

She nods and then points at the pendant. "I can see everything you see. The pendant has our hearts linked together as one." she then stands up and walks in front of him, looking him deep in the eyes. "I didn't just give you the pendant to serve as a means of feeling better during those dark times you have, I gave it to you because there's something within you that nobody else in this colony has."

He tilts his head to the side slightly. He has no idea of what she's talking about. She takes her right paw and places it over where her heart would be. "A **Pure Heart**. Everyone in the colony misunderstands you and despite that, you've never done anything bad or harmful to them. While you did hit Patricia in the face that day, you didn't fight her when she slapped you into the water. You protected your father against Brian, who had the intent of making sure your father would be in much more pain than he's in right now. You're very honest and haven't really lied to anyone nor have you manipulated anyone into doing anything to benefit yourself."

She grabs his right paw. "As the elder, I used to be exactly like you. I was always honest with everyone, even if the truth would hurt them. I never wished for anyone to be hurt or wanted to hurt anyone out of anger or sadness. I tried my best to protect everyone when a group of bad humans began attacking many years ago. I lead the colony with kindness and love, and that's something that's very important to have when trying to lead over 120 Minccino on a daily basis."

He thinks about all of this. She gently pokes him where his heart is and it tickles him slightly, causing him to giggle. "Mint, you're a shining example of what the next colony elder should aspire to become. If I had the **Shiny Stone**, I would be giving it to you even though tradition says the next elder would be picked from the small group of older Minccino in our colony." She then points at the pendant and goes back to it. "I gave you the pendant because of your pure heart. Part of my soul is contained within and I'm sure you've figured this out, but when get through dark times or think good thoughts, it resonates with my soul and makes it sparkle and shine. If you're ever lost, just know that you're not alone and it'll guide you even in the darkest night."

She then messes up the long tuft of fur on his head. "Mint, don't ever change who you are. Keep your heart as pure as can be. Kindness goes a long way, even if others around you don't appreciate it. You'll have everything you want one day, and you'll get there through kindness and love. Stay pure, Mint."

She then turns around and walks into the center of the room. Mint is lost for words. She just told him outright that he'd be the next colony elder if she still had the shiny stone. This is something that is not only a massive honor to become, but it also means that everything she said about him is 100% true, and it is. He stands up from the chair and walks over to her, standing next to her on her left side. She puts her left arm around his shoulder and brings him into a small hug.

The elder's been with him since she gave him the pendant, and everytime it started to sparkle and shine, that was her telling him that everything was going to be okay and that he shouldn't let the negative things affect him. Now that he knows that she'll be with him until his parents return, he feels a bit better about the whole 'living alone' situation he's in.

Mint rests his head on her side and smiles. She gently pats his head and they both look outside one of the windows. A few minutes go by and Mint realizes that he should probably go before someone sees him standing in the window, but before he goes he decides to ask the elder one last question.

"I-I never got to know your name… can you tell me what y-your name is?" he asks.

She smiles. "My name is Naomi. Don't forget it, okay?"

He smiles. "He heh… okay."

* * *

**PD: wholesome. Mint deserves it after everything he's been through, wouldn't you agree? This story ain't nowhere near done though, so I'll seeya in the next chapter!**


	10. A Lifelong Change

**PD: Just a heads up, this chapter is quite long and has ALOT going on so if you get lost, I'll have a quick summary at the end. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**A Lifelong Change**

After the little talk he had with Naomi, Mint left the den, making sure nobody saw him as he made his way back to the plaza. The sun had moved and it is now exactly the middle of the day, and even though there's no clouds in the sky to block out the sun, the temperature is a bit colder than usual thanks to the constant frigid breeze. It blows his pristine fur around as he walks, making the long tuft of fur on his head bend back.

As he approaches the plaza, the sound of the same children playing from a few days ago can be heard. They still have the same free-spirited and carefree screams of joy and playfulness as they did when he first saw them. While his attention is on them, he notices a group of 4 Minccino out of the corner of his eye.

Patricia, Rachel, and the two other male Minccino that are around the same age as him and them. They all seem to be talking to each other, the one talking to Patricia is Wesley, while the one talking to Rachel is Sean. All of them make up the main group that bullies him on a near daily basis. As if 2 was enough, now there's 4 of them. Strangely, Mint hasn't seen Wesley or Sean at all over the last few days, although he heard that they had ended up going to the Cottonee colony to do business, but he can't confirm this.

Rachel and Patricia are more than enough to handle all alone, but with Wesley and Sean now in the mix, things were about to get worse, and unlike Rachel and Patricia, Wesley and Sean like to push Mint around and even throw him on the ground if they feel like it. While he's fully recovered from the battle yesterday, he isn't in the mood to deal with any of their crap and simply wants to go home. If he were to try and sneak past them, he'd be seen by one of them no matter which way he goes. If he's lucky, they may ignore him, but that's a one in a million chance. He glances at them from the corner of his eye.

"_As if being beaten yesterday wasn't enough, now the whole gang's here. There's definitely no chance of being able to sneak past them, I'll just be seen. The only thing I can think of is to just look forward and walk home… maybe change that to run home while I'm at it._" he whispers to himself.

He exhales deeply and prepares to make a massive sprint from here to his home. As he gets down on all 4 of his paws, the group sees him. They immediately call him out, with Patricia pointing at him. "Hey look! The ugly sewer rat is here yet again!"

This causes Mint to look up and make eye contact with them. Bad move. They all run for him and while he wants to make a run for it himself, his brain freezes and so does his body for a moment. They crowd around him and the only thing he can do is stand up and brace himself for his usual dose of bullying and humiliation.

Wesley takes a good look at him. "Well well well… so you aren't a deadbeat after all. The way Patricia said she beat you up made it seem like you were left on the ground as a pile of bones. That would've been a much better fate for you, but I guess that's not how it really went down."

Patricia gets up in Mint's face. "Yeah, I hope that's a lesson to YOU. Never fucking hit me again or you will end up being a pile of bones." she then pulls away.

Sean points to Mint's pendant. "Looky here, someone gave him a cute looking gift that would much better suit either of you two." he goes to grab it but Mint is faster and places his paws over it to protect it.

He frowns and yells at him. "L-leave it alone!"

Sean smiles smugly. "Why? Are you finally realizing that you're as ugly as we all say you are? Is THAT your attempt at improving the non-existent looks you have?"

In Mint's eyes, insulting his use of the pendant is also insulting Naomi, and this makes him upset but he knows that if he says anything about who gave it to him or where he got it from, they'll spread the word to everyone and it just might cause more problems for him. For the sake of his own health, he stays silent even though a powerful flame burns within him.

Rachel decides to take it a step further. "No matter what 'cute' accessories you decorate yourself with, it won't change the color of the fur that's growing from your body." she then snickers. "Shouldn't you also be with a certain _someone_ right now? After all, you made him do what he did in the first place since you couldn't follow through with your threats."

Mint grinds his teeth upon hearing this and clenches his paws into fists as his arms shake upon hearing this. He was expecting them to say something about it but no matter how prepared he was to hear it, it still infuriates him greatly but deep down he tries to stay as calm as possible. All 4 of them take note of this.

Sean chuckles. "Your father losing to Brian for the second time in his life, the only other thing I can think of that's worse than that would be if you were the one who ended up fighting him, oh wait, you'd be **dead** if that happened and we already established that's too good of an end for you." he then looks among the group for confirmation and they nod their heads.

Wesley gets up in Mint's face. "Since we're on the topic of fights…" he pushes him and he stumbles back a couple steps. "You hit Patricia a few days ago while we weren't here. I didn't know you had it in you…" his voice seems to be hinting at something bad and Mint doesn't like it.

He responds. "Y-yeah! So what's it t-to you?"

This angers him. "What's it to me?" he gets closer. "What's it to me!?" his face is literally an inch away from Mint's. "I'll tell you what it is to me! That beautiful girl right there has this ugly ass mark on her face because of you! How do you not feel bad for what you've done!?"

Mint shrugs and pulls away from his face. Wesley growls lowly for a moment before Sean puts a paw on his shoulder to make him back off. Patricia decides to rub in her victory. "You know, I really enjoyed seeing you eat the dirt off my feet yesterday. My dad was proud of what I did and said you deserved it with every fiber of your being. Seeing your stupid-ass face hit the ground when I landed that final hit made me feel so good."

Mint gives her a small glare that tells her to shut up and she doesn't take it too well. "The fuck you looking at me like that for!? You can't handle being beaten up? Is that it?"

He doesn't respond and is starting to get tired of them and instead of paying attention to them, he looks past them and at the path leading out of the main colony. In his head, he's already at home taking a breather and eating some of the fish he caught with his father a few days ago. He starts to get engrossed with the thought and doesn't even pay attention to their insults.

They notice this and all of them get angry at him. He's supposed to pay attention to them but somehow, he's managed to ignore them. Sean decides it would be a good idea to whack some sense into him to make sure he knows exactly where he is and uses 'Tail Slap' but only uses enough force to knock Mint onto the ground. The attack hits him square across his back and he falls over, interrupting his little daydream.

He immediately turns over and all 4 of them stand over him. Sean yells at him. "Don't start zoning out on us you punk! Don't forget that you're the worst thing to ever walk this planet!"

They all notice that Mint's pendant is glowing and radiating little sparkles. He isn't letting their words get to him as much as he used to and although some of the stuff they say hurts, he simply ignores it. He stands up, turns around, and starts to walk away. All 4 of his bullies stand there in complete shock at this. Was it just a very bad day for them and he was in such a good mood that everything they said was ineffective?

Rachel growls. "N-not even a single attempt to come back nor do I see tears coming from his eyes?"

Sean's eye twitches slightly. "Something's up… and we're not in the know…"

Patricia holds her paw up in the air and shakes it in front of her face. "He's completely ignoring us! That fucker just straight up turned around and left us!"

Wesley frowns. "He's hiding something, there's no way he could be that happy. He's a mute that shows no emotion, he should be crying over what we said!"

Mint hears everything they say as he gets further and further away from them. He doesn't care about their insults because it's been a few days since he last ate and that feeling began to override all other emotions that would've risen up. True to what they said, he would be quite upset by their insults, but when hunger calls, it CALLS.

As he walks down the path, his eyes meander off towards the right side where the stone he passed numerous times lies in wait. Each and every single time he's wanted to investigate it, someone or something stopped him from doing it. It doesn't matter what it was, it always found a way to stop him from taking a good look at this wondrous stone. While he's hungry right now, it isn't something that can physically stop him from investigating it. He stops directly in front of the patch of grass the stone lies in and looks at it. The stone gleams and shimmers thanks to a bit of sunlight breaking through the leaves and hitting the surface. The stone also shines and sparkles in a similar fashion to his pendant, making him wonder if the stone, pendant, and elder naomi's soul all have something in common.

"_The stone sparkles and shines just like the pendant. Could it be related to it in any way?_" he thought to himself but he quickly shoots this idea down. "_That can't be right… no stone would be able to contain a Pokemon's soul and their powers. Perhaps the stone has a power that's similar but not quite the same._"

He slowly walks over to the stone and as he gets closer, it starts to get brighter and brighter, seemingly resonating with his presence. He leans in to get a closer look at it and the stone suddenly bursts forth with a light that's too bright to look at. Mint looks away to avoid being blinded by it and after a few seconds, it stops glowing and sparkling, revealing itself to him in all its glory.

His eyes widen to a point that shouldn't be possible, his mouth drops open, and his heart begins to race. He takes a quick step back and clenches his chest, feeling his own heartbeat. He stares at the stone and begins taking deep breaths. What he's seeing is something that he thought he would never see in his life, especially after what had happened many years ago to prevent another one from taking her place.

He speaks under his breath. "_A-any… any Minccino that… t-that's in possession of t-that stone would be…. W-would be… eligible to…_" he swallows down some spit and screams the last part. "E-EVOLVE!"

The stone is none other than the coveted **Shiny Stone** that elder Naomi would've bestowed to the next Minccino in line to be colony elder. He doesn't know if this is the same exact one that she had before it was stolen, but if anyone in the colony were to find this here, it would cause many problems, especially since the moment anyone shows off the stone to the rest of them, that Minccino who holds it would immediately become elder, **including someone like Brian or the bullies**.

Only one thing is going through his mind now. "_I-I have to take this thing far away from here! I-If Patricia, or Rachel, or Brian, or A-ANYONE finds it… they'll…_" the thought comes right into his mind and he sees it clear as day.

* * *

In the colony plaza, one Minccino that hates Mint the most has managed to gather up everyone to reveal some startling news. "Everyone! I want to show you something that nobody has seen in years since our last elder passed on."

Everyone's eyes are on them, except for Mint. He knows what's about to happen and there's nothing he can do to stop it.

They continue. "We all know how she was supposed to choose one of us to become the next colony elder to take up her role once her time had come, right?"

Everyone nods. They keep going. "I'm pretty sure you also know that the very crucial item that she was gonna give out in order for one of us to become the elder was stolen from her in her final days by some terrible Pokemon that nobody's been able to track down."

They all nod and some of them start whispering to each other. Mint starts to shake a little. He knew he should've done something about that stone he found in the grass the last time he saw it. "_F-fuck… Why'd I decide to leave that damn thing there!? I should've known s-something like this could've h-happened!_" is all he thinks to himself as the only thing he can do is wait for them to show it off to everyone else.

The Minccino pulls the **Shiny Stone** out from behind their back and holds it high up in the air. "The **Shiny Stone** has been found! Since there's no elder to choose who gets to be the next one, tradition goes as follows: 'The one who finds a Shiny Stone, regardless of age and gender, is slated to be the next colony elder.' and since I've found it, I shall become the next one until it is time for the next elder to be chosen."

They then look over to where Mint is standing and his heart drops. They point at him and everyone looks at him. "First things first… as the new colony elder, I hereby **order you, Mint the Minccino, to leave this colony and never come back. You are exiled for all eternity. If anyone sees you in Pinwheel Forest, you will be attacked and killed on sight. NOW BEGONE!**"

* * *

This thought causes his heart to race even faster than before and he starts panting a bit at the sheer shock. The thought had painted such a surreal event in his mind and it frightens him from head to toe. Sweat rolls down the side of his head and drips from his chin. The thought, while short, was enough for him to become so scared and nervous that he began to sweat profusely. He looks back at the stone and knows what he must do. Before he goes to grab it though, he looks around rapidly in every direction to make sure nobody sees him. If he was seen with a shiny stone, there'd be a riot and most definitely would be killed in an attempt to prevent him from using it.

He hears a few voices coming from the direction of the main colony and they seem to be getting closer to him slowly. He has to act fast. Without thinking about the possible repercussions of touching the stone directly despite seeing how it reacted to him getting close to it, he runs up to it, grabs it with his left paw, fits it under his arm, and takes off running towards his home as fast as he can on two feet. He looks back as he does to make sure the voices he heard don't turn into Pokemon that could end up seeing him since the path is straight with no bends along the way.

His mind is racing with a whole bunch of terrible thoughts as he gets closer and closer to his home. More drops of sweat roll down his head but some of them fly off due to how fast he's running. He looks back once again and doesn't see anybody but doesn't trust it. He looks forwards and focuses on getting home which isn't too far away now.

What he doesn't know is how these stones work. The reason he kept seeing it resonate with his presence is because when in extremely close proximity to a Pokemon that will evolve with a stone like that, it glows to signify that the Pokemon's energy will release the stone's latent power and cause said Pokemon to evolve. In other words, Mint grabbing and holding the stone is the equivalent of him grabbing a ticking time bomb, except he'll evolve once the timer reaches "0" and there's nothing he can do to stop it.

He's almost to his den when the stone starts to glow brightly once again. Mint notices this and slows down, eventually stopping about 30 feet away from his home. He takes the stone out from under his arm and holds it with both of his paws, staring at it. The stone lights up his entire face and a couple parts of his body. He has no idea of what's about to happen and is completely mesmerized by the intense but beautiful bright light. He didn't get the best look at the stone before, but now that it's in his paws, he can see it clearly. The stone itself seems to have a very faint, yellow tint to it as well as being translucent, allowing him to see his paw on the other side. In the center of the stone is an orangey-yellow pattern that looks like a star or a sparkle of light. True to its name, the stone is also very shiny. This is one of the last things he'll see as a Minccino, for the stone begins to glow an impossibly bright color and he looks away from it in response.

As the stone's bright glow encompasses him, his body becomes shrouded in a pure white light that's equal in brightness, and an outflow of energy and power comes from the stone and enters his body. The white light surrounding him becomes even brighter and the stone's light dissipates as he begins to transform and evolve. His tail loses the mint-green color and instead, gets longer, fluffier, and becomes a beautiful, jet white color instead. His ears become a bit bigger and retain the mint-green to white gradient near the tips, on the top of his head, his long fur tuft disappears and in its place grows out two long fluffs of jet white fur that go down part of his back and wrap around to opposite sides, the fur on his chest grows out, turns from mint-green to jet white, and becomes what looks like a scarf, finally, he grows about 4 inches taller.

The light begins to dissipate and Mint stands there completely confused as to what had happened. He looks around to see if anything had changed but everything seems to be the same as it was before the stone started glowing. He places his paw on his chest but instead of feeling his chest fur, he feels something that's much softer and fluffier than usual. He squeezes it gently and can feel the squeezing sensation too. This confuses him even more and he looks down to see the jet white scarf where his chest fur should be. Something's off.

"_W-what the hell…? W-where'd this scarf come f-from?_" he thought to himself as he continued to squeeze it. He looks at the stone once again and the only thing that it's doing now is radiating a few dim sparkles off the surface, almost as if it was losing its power.

He looks behind him and out of the corner of his eye, he catches part of one of the long, jet white fluffs of fur that grew out from the top of his head and wrapped around his back. He also sees his tail for a moment and makes note that it's no longer mint-green and somewhat small but rather, longer, fluffier, and jet white. He still doesn't know what to think of it and is starting to become scared over what he's seeing.

"_W-what's going on…? W-why is my tail long and white? W-what happened to the fur on my c-chest?_" he thought to himself as sweat droplets began to form on his forehead and a feeling of dread started to settle in.

He looks at the stone once more and the sparkling has stopped and he notices something interesting, it seems to have lost some of its color and the sparkle pattern in the center is missing. He's never seen a stone do something like that before and the weird changes to his body are just as bad if not worse. Suddenly, like a Castelia City subway hitting him at max speed, he realizes just exactly what had happened. The stone falls out from his paw and lands on the ground, making a small cloud of dust upon impact. Mint grabs the scarf that's around his neck with both paws and then reaches for what used to be the long tuft of fur on his head and instead, touches the long fur fluffs that are there and yanks on it, pulling a bit of fur out in the process and making him flinch from the sharp and quick pain. He brings his paws back down and opens them up to reveal the jet white fur and he starts to shake. His breathing becomes rapid and his heart begins to beat at a dangerously fast rate, even faster than when he thought of someone exiling him from the colony after finding the stone.

A nightmare far worse than what he's been living in is about to take control. Something he thought would never happen to him went down just moments before and there's NOTHING he can do to turn back now. An unrealized fear has awoken and all 119 other Minccino in this colony will realize that something isn't quite right about their most hated member, and they'll only hate him even more for what he's managed to turn into knowing that this Pokemon was what lead them for years on end. It's not just endless hate, but endless bullying that will accompany this change as well. To top it all off, the two most important Pokemon in his life, his parents, may not recognize him when they get back and if they do, they might not approve of the change or even let him stay at the den.

He drops the fur onto the ground and places his paws on his cheeks. Many drops of sweat have formed on his forehead and he has no idea of what to do now. His cheeks are redder than a tomato berry and he's on the verge of crying but is doing his best to hold back the relentless tears that wish to come out. He's become the one thing that can't ever go back to being what it used to be.

"_I-I've evolved…. Into a-a…. Into a… C-c…. C-cinccino…_" he very quietly whispers to himself in a voice that's on the verge of breaking. This is a change that he can't accept. He doesn't believe that the stone he was just holding ended up evolving him simply because he held it.

"_No… no… no… no.. no no no! This c-can't be happening… t-this CAN'T be h-happening…!_" he says to himself as he runs off towards the river he washed himself off with. His reflection would reveal the truth and the cold water would be enough to wake him if this just so happened to be a terrible nightmare.

He parts the grass out of his way and runs in a panic all the way to the river. He skids to a stop and kneels down over the water, looking in to see his reflection. What he sees is what he feared all along. He's truly turned into a Cinccino. His reflection shows it all and even though he's fully awake, he thinks it's a dream and with his paws, quickly splashes cold water up at his face rapidly in an attempt to hopefully jar the real-life version of him awake but to no use. He frantically soaks his face with the cold water, not realizing that it's useless to keep doing this. After almost 5 minutes of this, he slowly stops and takes another look at his reflection.

Nothing changed. He's still a Cinccino and hasn't woken up. He can't hold back the tears now and they flow out and down his face. He covers it with his paws. If only he knew that would happen the moment he grabbed the stone, he would've used a different means of moving it, but that's not the case, he's here now, fully evolved with no means of going back that wouldn't require him to go out of his way. There's nothing he can do besides accept the permanent change and hope that things won't go south instantly, as if they weren't already looking to do that.

He sits at the river crying for almost 20 minutes before finally coming back to reality and realizing that it's all real. He slowly removes his paws from his face and looks at them, soaked with his tears. His face isn't any better, already soaked from his constant splashing of water from the river. He looks at them for a minute or so before sighing sadly. His eyes drop halfway open and he looks at his reflection once more. He can see the sadness on his own face clear as day, as well as his new, lifelong identity too.

"_T-this is me now… I-I can't go back, well, n-not without going through hell in the process. T-there's nothing I can do but try to a-adapt to the change…_" he says to himself quietly. He also realizes something now, his voice is a bit higher than usual, not by much, but he sounds a bit more like how he used to sound when he was around 8-10 years old. This isn't a bad thing, but it's more fuel for the bullies and he blushes in slight embarrassment at this.

He realizes that he can't stay here forever and that the sun is quickly approaching the horizon and he'll need to get back home. He stands up and wipes any dirt off his fur. He also tries his best to shake out the water he splashed at his face and after that, he walks off towards his home. Along the way, he starts to think about what the elder had told him.

"_Mint, you're a shining example of what the next colony elder should aspire to become. If I had the __**Shiny Stone**__, I would be giving it to you even though tradition says the next elder would be picked from the small group of older Minccino in our colony."_

He can't help but chuckle at this. "_It's ironic… she was gonna turn me into t-this if she had the stone._" At least if it happened that way, she'd be there to hold his paw for a bit until the others finally learned to accept him for who he really is. It doesn't matter now, elder or no elder, he's going to face problems with this evolution, and with his parents gone, he needs someone to fall back on more than ever. He already knows he's not the most confident Pokemon in the colony, combined with his social anxiety and shyness, this will only take these traits to a whole new level and beyond. He parts the grass away as he makes it back to the main path not too far from the den.

He stops to take a breather. He's still super anxious and a bit scared over the rapid change. His heart still beats rapidly and he can feel adrenaline flowing through him with each step he takes. Any little sound makes him glance towards its direction, he's not taking any chances as the last thing he needs is for someone to see him and spread the news around the colony. He takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down but right as he's about to exhale, he hears the voices of two Minccino from the colony. They're faint but too close for comfort.

Mint immediately dives into the tall grass behind him and tries to get as close to the ground as possible to minimize the chance that he'll be seen. He folds his ears down a bit and peaks out from the grass to see who it is. The two Minccino he sees are the only two that could make this whole situation infinitely worse: Rachel and Patricia.

"_W-what are they doing h-here? S-shouldn't they be in the main colony i-instead?_" he thinks to himself as he watches them walk down the path, getting closer and closer to him.

They're talking to each other and at the distance they're at right now, Mint shouldn't be able to hear them but his evolution seems to have enhanced his hearing capabilities and he can hear them faintly. He can't quite make out what they're saying just yet but as they get closer, it starts to become much clearer and he listens in.

"What the hell was up with Mint earlier? It's like we weren't even there nor did anything we say seem to affect him." says Patricia.

"I dunno, I'm more surprised that he even decided to show up in town after you kicked his ass. He seemed to have fully healed up and that broken nose is broken no more. I do have to ask, was it really necessary to fight him_?_" Rachel says in response.

"Why? Is there something wrong about what I did?"

"Well, if it was someone else, they'd think you were over-reacting over such a stupid thing._"_

"Rachel, are you trying to DEFEND Mint?"

She seems to be shocked by this. "W-what!? Absolutely NOT. I'd NEVER defend anything that he decides to do against you! I'm just saying that it was a bit extreme to fight him over a giant black and blue mark he left on your face…"

Patricia stays silent for a few moments, then shakes her head. "Alright fine, you have a bit of a point there. Perhaps I did react in an extreme manner, but he still deserves it for what he did and said to me. Put him in his place like the little fuckwit he is."

They have a small period of silence before they start up again. "Rachel._"_

"Yes, Patricia?"

"Where do you think he went after he just walked away from us?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine but my guess is probably back to his shitty home or to some place we don't know to cry and weep."

Rachel nods. "Probably." she gets a seemingly random thought in her head. "Hey, what if he evolved into a Cinccino?"

Patricia starts laughing loudly for a few seconds, then responds. _"_If I saw him like that, I'd never be able to stop laughing. I can see it already, he'd HATE us for real."

This makes Mint both angry and sad at the same time. They're joking about him evolving into a Cinccino and the reality of it is that he DID just that. Not being able to stop laughing is an understatement in his eyes, she'd probably follow him around and make him actually go through with suicide over the fact that he'd never be left alone. He watches as they pass right by and although he has a small urge to jump out and yell at them for what they just said, he decides it would be best not to do that, lest they run back to the colony and tell everyone else.

They continue talking. "I know if I saw him like that, I'd probably tell everyone else…" she then realizes something. "Wait a minute! If he were to become a Cinccino, he could take the role of colony elder!"

Patricia realizes this too. "Oh shit! You're right! If we find a shiny stone, we better make sure to use it on ourselves otherwise we'll have to deal with him making rules that prevent us from making fun of him!"

They both start laughing a little bit but as they walk, Rachel's foot hits the shiny stone that Mint dropped earlier. She stops and picks it up. They both look at each other for a moment with big smiles but they quickly dissipate once they realize the stone looks a bit different than usual.

Rachel points it out. "I've seen a shiny stone before and they usually have a pattern in the center... I think someone used it already…" she drops it on the ground, disappointed slightly.

Patricia kicks some dirt in frustration. "Damn, I thought we were gonna finally have the power to kick him out for good. So close yet so far…"

Rachel shrugs. "Maybe next time."

They seem to end their conversation there and simply keep walking forward. After a few minutes, they're far enough away that Mint is able to come out of the tall grass and stand on the path. He wipes his forehead of sweat and sighs. It was close, but luckily they didn't see him. He grabs the stone and goes inside his den. He's had a long day and even though the sun is very close to the horizon, he wishes that it were finished so he could go to sleep and wake up the next morning.

The thought invites a new one into his head though, even if he evaded those two from earlier, how will he be able to show his face to anyone in the main colony? There's no way he'd be able to hide the drastic physical changes from anyone and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Minccino and Cinccino are quite different. In some ways, this evolution is a blessing. If he can find a way to get over the bullying and stuff, he could become colony elder and then everyone would HAVE to like him, but at the same time, it's also a curse. If he can't manage to deal with the intense bullying that will come from this, he might not be able to take it and without anyone he trusts enough to fall back on, it might just throw him into such a deep depression that he ends up running away or worse, taking his life.

He remembers that he still has the pendant and while it no longer glows due to this hard situation, he remembers that he has to stay positive about it. He'll find a way to be accepted somehow even though they didn't accept him as a Minccino. He can only hope and pray that they'll accept him, and if they don't, what might they do in response? Only time will tell for him and as he goes to prepare his dinner in the form of the fish he caught with his father a few days ago, he wonders if this will end the way he thinks it will.

* * *

**PD: Whew! Mint is no longer a Minccino now! Anyway, if you got lost, he basically found a shiny stone and it made him evolve against his will and now it brings a whole slew of new problems to the table. I hope you've been enjoying this story so far. Feel free to leave a review telling me what you think if you want but nothing too harsh please! Anyway, seeya in the next chapter!**


	11. Special Slidey Oil

**Special Slidey Oil**

During the night after Mint had managed to avoid being seen with his new form, many strange howls and cries were heard. Some of these cries sounded like Pokemon from the Cottonee colony, but since nobody was awake at the time, they couldn't confirm it. Alongside these cries was another group of cries, they had a fierce and threatening sound to them and didn't seem to belong to any of the Pokemon living in Pinwheel forest.

These cries had made their way into Mint's dream and turned it into a rather very unpleasant nightmare involving him and the entire colony. In the nightmare, he was found to have evolved and everyone started making fun of him, mocking him and thinking his evolution was yet another attempt to fit in and seem less of an outlier. He also ended up being backed into a corner and they all started to beat him up as well, and when they were done, they all simultaneously took a piss on him, one of the filthiest and most degrading things that could ever happen to him.

He awakens to find that the sun had not yet risen. The nightmare was surreal and even though it wasn't scary, it was demoralizing and didn't give him much hope for what today would be bringing to him. He stands up from his bed and checks his fur, clean and not pee-soaked. He sighs in relief. "_Phew… it was only a nightmare…_"

However, the same could not be said for his bed, he takes in a deep breath and notices a smell of urine coming from it. He might've not been pissed on, but instead, he pissed his own bed. It almost makes sense dream-wise but realizing what he did, it makes his face scrunch up in disgust and also creates a feeling of embarrassment as well. He simply looks at the bed, the grass a bit darker than usual due to soaking up his urine. He shakes his head slowly. "_It was too good to be true… at least it didn't get on my fur, but still… just knowing I was sleeping on that…_"

He shakes his head very slowly in disgust. He'll have to get rid of it and replace it, which wouldn't be a big problem since it's made of grass and he's surrounded by it on all sides. He'll also have to clean himself up once again. Even though it didn't get on his fur, he was sleeping in it for an unknown amount of time and he has a very strong urge to clean up despite this. He can only attribute this intense urge to his new evolution.

It's been said that all Cinccino outclass Minccino in terms of cleanliness, going as far as to spend whole days cleaning their dens and fur if even so much as a speck of dust appears on them or in their den. Some are even so obsessed with being clean, that they'll starve and sleep deprive themselves in their crazed desire for perfect hygiene and a pristine environment.

He shakes this urge off and grabs the bed, dragging it outside where he then goes behind the den and walks about 80 feet away into the tall grass to toss the bed out. He then comes back and with the grass by his den, he starts to pull it out and make a big pile on the main path. 5 minutes of grass pulling later, he's got a pretty nice sized pile and begins to strew it together to make his new bed. This new bed is a bit bigger than his old one and truth be told, part of his head and feet were sticking out with his old one.

The strewing is done in about the same amount of time and he drags it back inside and places it down where his old bed was, moving his mother and father's beds to the side slightly to make room for his new one. He places it down and then strokes his right paw over it a couple times to smooth it out and as he does this, something tells him to glide his left paw over the long white fur fluff that's on his head and he does just that. This coats his paw in a very strange yet silky feeling oil that he raises an eyebrow at.

"_S-silky_ _oil...? Why is the fluff covered in oil?"_ he wonders to himself as the oil begins to slowly drip down his arm. He ignores his confusion and simply wipes it all over the bed, giving it a fine, even coat of the stuff. Once he's done, he takes a look at what he's done.

"_There, that should fit me just fine. I made it a bit bigger since I seem to have grown a bit thanks to evolving and even if I didn't wet the old one, I didn't feel comfortable sleeping in it last night._" he says to himself.

He looks at the draped entrance and notices that it's still quite dark out. By now, the sun should've come up but it hasn't. He doesn't know what to think and simply shrugs it off. He probably woke up an hour before sunrise and that's why it hasn't come up yet. Knowing this, he could probably go to the main colony and try to see if elder Naomi is still there, but with his luck, he'd probably be seen by someone who decided to wake up extra early like he did.

He weighs some other options, one of which involves him going back to Nacrene City to see how his father's doing, and the other involves staying at home and hoping nobody will notice that he's gone missing.

If he decides to go to Nacrene City, he'll have the issue of his parents potentially not recognizing who he is, and even though he still has his mint-green fur, anything is possible and they may say that he's posing as their son when the reality is that he's actually evolved but they have no means of knowing this. If he stays at home, the usual bullies that he sees on a near daily basis may realize that he's gone and might go looking for him. Since they all know where his house is and that they could just walk in, it wouldn't take long for one of them to find him here and everything that he wants to avoid will simply unfold right before his eyes.

He doesn't know what to do. No matter what he does, it seems to be a lose-lose situation and outcome. He goes to see the elder, it's possible someone might see him. He goes to see his parents, they might not recognize him and indirectly disown him. He stays home and does nothing, he'll be found out and the whole colony will know within a matter of minutes. The situation is grim and these are the only options he can think of right now.

"_What can I do? Everything I've thought of is only going to lead to more harm than anything… No matter what I try, someone or something is going to shut it down and ruin it all. There's no way to do this without being exposed._" he says to himself before he clenches his paws into fists, getting angry that he evolved.

"_W-why'd it have to be me!? Why couldn't it have waited until I got back here before trying anything like that!? Now I can't show my face to anyone in the colony, nor will the only two Minccino who actually love me will know who I am…_" he then turns to look at the stone that's on the table.

He growls and stomps over to it, grabbing it with both paws and holding it as if he were strangling someone. "Curse you! I fucking hate you! I hate everything that you've done to me!" he then throws the stone on the ground. He then proceeds to kick it as hard as he can and it goes flying into the wall, bounces off, and heads right for his head.

He ducks down to avoid it but doesn't go far enough and the stone hits the long white fluffs of fur on his head but instead of it going into the fluffs, the stone gets deflected and bounces off, landing on the ground in front of him once again. He opens his eyes since he closed them in response and sees the stone on the ground. He raises an eyebrow as he only felt it hit him for a split second and tries to understand what just happened.

Somehow, the white fluffs of fur on his head protected him from getting hit by a stone travelling at a very high speed. If he were to be properly hit instead, he might have a cracked forehead or worse. He doesn't understand how these fluffs managed to do that as he reaches up and presses his right paw into one, it being super squishy and fluffy.

"_H-how'd that do that…?_" he says to himself, curious as to how such a squishy fluff could absorb all that momentum and not only stop the stone, but make it bounce off as well. He doesn't see how this is possible as he bends over to pick up the stone once again. The moment he touches it, he notices that there's an odd coating of oil on it similar to when he spread a fine coat of it onto his bed.

This gives him an idea. He takes the stone, rubs it all over the fluffs, walks to one end of the den, and kneels down onto the ground. With only a small amount of force, he slides the stone across the ground. The stone keeps going and going and going all the way from one end to the other before hitting the wall, bouncing off, and stopping after a few more seconds of sliding. This makes him completely understand it now.

"_I get it! When the stone hit my fur, the oil got on it and made it slip off!_" he then rubs his nose for a second, realizing that he could have quite a bit of fun with this new discovery. "_I could totally make a giant trail of oil on the ground and then run into it at full force, jump and land on my stomach, and slide all the way to the opposite end of the trail!_"

He pictures what this would look like in his mind and he sees himself sliding through the forest at an impossible speed on his stomach. He's laughing and having a good time as he flies by his bullies as he goes through the main colony. Everyone around him is jealous because they can't do what he's doing and this thought makes him feel for the first time that he's truly special.

He comes back to reality and realizes that half of this thought won't be possible while the other half would simply just get him made fun of. This drags him down a bit but he remembers that they don't matter because they can't tell him what he can and can't do. He smiles slightly and the pendant around his scarf starts to glow and sparkle. If he's gonna do something at some point today, be it seeing his parents or trying to go visit the elder, he's gonna make sure he tries to have fun in the process, after all, it would be better to try and make the most of his new form than complain about it all the time.

* * *

**PD: A significantly shorter chapter than what I'm used to doing for this story, but it balances out the massive chapter from before. This won't be a trend where extremely long chapters are followed by super short ones, this just so happened to be a short chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'll seeya in the next chapter!**


	12. Sneaky Situation

**Sneaky Situation**

As the morning sun once again rises up over the land, it graces everything in sight with its life-giving rays. Pinwheel Forest begins to awaken for the start of this brand new day. All the denizens slowly rise from their beds, except for one who's been up for quite some time. He paces back and forth inside his den, trying to make a final decision on what to do today.

He's in a very tough position, with his evolution, a whole slew of new problems were brought to the table, as if he needed more. He can't show himself to anyone in the colony and he fears his parents might not know who he is due to the drastic changes in his physical appearance. All options that he's thought of lead to a lose-lose situation and an outcome that's most unfavorable.

He, however, wants to defy all odds. He's going to find some way to sneak through the main colony and get to elder Naomi's den. She might be the only one that'll be able to guide him and show him what he can do to prevent the others from making fun of him. He quickly paces back and forth, trying to formulate the plan in his head. With the discovery of the slippery oil that seems to come from the white parts of his fur, he could get creative with his plan to get around everyone and slip by undetected.

"_Using the oil on my fur, perhaps I could flick it far enough ahead of me to create a trail that I could slide on, or maybe I should coat my stomach and any other body parts in it so I could slide around anywhere without the need for an oil trail…?_" he thinks out loud to himself. He most certainly can use the oil to his advantage, it's all about how he utilizes it that will give him said advantage.

He looks at the entrance and notices the light is starting to show, the sun's finally coming up. He'd been awake for an hour and like he thought, he had woken up much earlier than usual. If he's gonna get to the elder's den, he should go now since most of the colony would be just waking up and he might be able to beat them out.

He shakes his whole body down and gently hops in place a couple times, readying himself for the insanely stressful and nerve-wracking mission. He knows he can do it, he just has to be extremely careful. After a couple deep breaths, he parts away the drapes and leaves the den. He gets on all fours and runs down the path towards the main colony.

Nobody should be on the path, especially since most of them have no business being in this part of the forest at the crack of dawn. Mint, however, isn't taking any chances and is fully aware of his surroundings. His ears pick up even the quietest sounds and noises, some of which he's never heard as a Minccino, further showing that his evolution did in fact enhance his hearing quite a bit. Since the path is straight with no bends, if someone were to show up at the other end, he'd be seen immediately and as such, he sticks to the left side of the path by the grass, giving him a quick hiding place if he needs it.

For some reason, the path feels much longer than usual even though Mint's running at a brisk and excellent pace. Perhaps it's his nerves getting to him, knowing that what he's about to do is extremely risky and has only one chance to be successful. The longer path does have a slight calming effect, but this is quickly replaced by anxiety as the main colony comes into view. He slows down and takes cover behind a nearby tree just to be safe.

He peeks out and looks at the danger ahead. It seems there's a few Minccino out and about doing their own thing. Not too bad, but he'll have to wait until all of them are looking away or distracted by something before he proceeds. Since he has the time, he rubs both of his paws on his fur fluffs and begins to slather himself in the oil. It gives him a slightly shiny look but he'll be able to slide around now, and by extension, slip past them unnoticed hopefully.

He looks back to see if anything's changed and the Minccino from before are now all talking to each other, faced away from the direction Mint wants to go. He'll be able to slip by and hide behind one of the dens, so he takes a few steps back and gets a running start before jumping onto his stomach and sliding across. He slides right past them without being seen at all. When he reaches the dens, he runs behind one of them and plans his next move.

As he does this, he picks up on the conversation the Minccino are having. "Did you hear those weird cries last night?"

"I did. I feel like we all should be aware of something but I can't quite put a paw on it."

"Those weren't cries from Pokemon that've been in Pinwheel Forest for all this time, they sounded like Pokemon that aren't native here."

"I agree, perhaps we should all get extra supplies and spread the word to the others?"

"Perhaps, but what if we're all getting paranoid over just a bunch of cries? What if the Herdier and Stoutland colonies are in mating season now?

"Then we're just simply being cautious, that's all. You can never be too prepared. Better safe than sorry."

They all seem to agree. This conversation makes Mint think for a second. "_They have a point… what if those cries were those vicious Pokemon that have been rumored to live here now? We could all be in danger if they show up without any warning…_"

He shakes it out of his mind, trying not to worry about something that he knows won't happen anytime soon. "_T-that's not important… I have to make sure I don't get seen._" he sneaks around to the den next to him and peeks out from it. He can see the fountain plaza is not too far away, but in his way will be a lot of Minccino and the chance of him being seen is very high here. He could sneak around by hiding behind the dens and waiting until they pass, but they could still see him in between them. The other option is to wait until nobody's looking and just make a mad dash past the plaza, but this would be much more dangerous as he could easily be seen by someone if they end up turning around.

He decides to play it safe and wait for them to pass. He sneaks by using the dens and after about 10 minutes he's almost at the elder's den. The only thing that stands between him and the den is a decently long flight of stairs that he has to climb. He could be seen climbing the stairs but there's no other way around it so when the coast is clear, he books it.

He reaches the base of the stairs and immediately starts climbing them, he knows that at any moment, someone could see him and it'd be ruined. Not to mention that if he's going to the elder's den and is seen, he could be heavily punished. He hastily climbs the steps, panting heavily, heart racing, and sweat rolling down his head as he gets closer and closer to the top. His mind is moving a million miles a second and he fears that someone can see him.

He reaches the top and quickly runs behind the elder's den. He grabs his chest and can feel his heartbeat. He takes a massive breath, he did the first hard part. When he wants to leave, he'll have to do the same thing again, hoping for the same amount of luck as well. Even though he thinks he wasn't seen, he gets the feeling that somehow, someone saw him despite his best attempts at being stealthy.

He digs up the panel that opens the secret entrance, presses it, and enters the tree trunk like he's done in the past. He looks down the passage and notices that the torches aren't lit like the last few times. This is a bad sign, for if what he thinks is true, then he just wasted all this time trying to find someone that's not even there. He stays positive though, for he can't just assume she's gone without actually looking.

He crawls through the passage and reaches the ladder. He climbs the ladder and pushes open the door and pulls himself up into her bedroom. He takes a look around and all of the candles are out. "_No… this can't be happening… you can't just leave when I need you the most…_" he thinks to himself as he quietly approaches the hallway.

The den is eerily quiet and unlike before, has a very thick atmosphere and feels off. Since the candles are out, there's very little light and the whole place is rather dark. Mint feels a slight chill run down his spine as he steps out into the hallway. Last time he tried the door at the left end of the hall, it was locked and couldn't be opened. It could be worth trying once again, but seeing as how the whole place has a completely different atmosphere, he feels it might not be the best idea.

Against his better judgement, he heads down towards the left end of the hallway and approaches the door. He places his right paw on the knob and notices that it feels extremely warm, something that strikes him as odd.

"_The knob's warm…?"_ he whispers to himself. He looks at the other end of the hallway to make sure Naomi isn't gonna sneak up on him and sees nothing. He has a bad feeling and looks back at the door. He slowly turns the knob and to his surprise, it turns and opens.

He lets go of the knob and the door slowly squeaks open, revealing the empty room where he first met Naomi. There are candles in this room as well but they're not lit. He finds this strange. The moment the knob turned he thought she'd be in the room but nope, she's not here.

"_Strange… the door was unlocked but she's not here…?_" he whispers to himself with an eyebrow raised. He's completely confused at this point. _"Was she here at some point earlier and decided to leave?_" is what he asks himself as he looks around the room.

The rocking chair Naomi was sitting in when he first met her seems to be missing. The only other thing worth noting about this room was the bookshelves on all sides, like a mini library. Mint also questions it. "_Why would she have a room like this? Almost all the other Minccino in the colony don't read, so why would she have books?_"

This question goes unanswered as his instincts tell him to leave the room. Something just doesn't feel right about the den today and he can't understand why. The longer he stays here, the stronger the strange feeling within him gets. He leaves the room and even though it isn't the best idea, he decides to call out to her in hopes she'll respond.

"Naomi! Are you here? I-I need to talk to you, it's something that's very u-urgent!" his voice seems to echo across the den for a few seconds. He taps his paws together anxiously and tucks his feet in a little, worried that his voice could've been heard by someone outside.

He waits, tapping his paws. No response after 10 seconds of waiting. He then remembers the pendant has her soul and is linked to his heart. He grabs it and takes a look at it. Unlike earlier, the pendant is no longer glowing or sparkling, but rather, seems to be a little bit dull and lackluster. He isn't sure what to make of it and simply lets go of it and begins to walk towards the opposite end of the hallway.

He makes a left at the staircase and walks down into the living room. He immediately looks at the chairs they sat in last time to see if she's there. Nothing. He looks around the living room and as he does, his eyes glance at one of the windows facing the rest of the colony and for a split second, he notices that there seems to be a big group out at the base of the stairs. He goes over to the window and looks.

At the base of the stairs is a big group of Minccino. One of them seems to be pointing in Mint's direction and he ducks below the windowsill. His heart jumps and his pupils seem to shrink, revealing the hidden whites in his eyes. "_W-was I s-seen!? W-why is there s-such a big group out t-there!?_" he thinks to himself as he frantically looks around the room for a means of a quick escape.

He doesn't know what they're planning, but he believes they might've seen something in the den and brought it to the attention of other Minccino nearby. Most likely, they'll go in to investigate what the sole Minccino saw but if they do that, he'll definitely be found out if he doesn't leave. Knowing he's on limited time, he stands up and races up the stairs back to Naomi's bedroom so he can leave without being seen. He climbs down the ladder and closes the secret door to her room and then hops down to the ground below.

He begins crawling through the passage as fast as he can and makes it all the way to the trunk. He jumps up and pulls himself onto the ground and then closes up the passage and covers the secret panel as best as he can. Almost immediately after he does this, he begins to hear a couple Minccino talking nearby. He hides behind the big trunk and tries his best to listen in.

"You're saying you saw a shadow in one of the windows of the den?"

"Yes, I swear I'm not lying! I know what I saw, a big, black shadow that could only be seen if someone was on the inside."

"I see. If someone in the colony has broken in without permission they'll face a very harsh punishment."

Another voice that's not in the first part of the conversation speaks up. "Hey, you know that weirdo, Mint?"

"Yes, what about that useless ball of fur? He has something to do with this?"

"Well, not exactly. It's possible, but I can't be sure."

"Then what about him? We don't have time to worry about that half breed dimwit! Someone could be trying to steal from the elder's den and we have to stop them!"

"I'm trying to tell you that he's gone missing!"

This seems to interest the Minccino that's starting the investigation. "Missing? What do you mean?"

"Rachel and Patricia said they haven't seen him at all this morning and we all know that he's been waking up rather early the last few days. They went to see if he was in his den on the outskirts of the colony and found it to be completely empty. The only thing they found was a weird looking stone covered in a slippery oil. I'm not trying to say that we should be worried but, after what happened to him, don't you think we should at least… try to locate him and make sure he isn't dead? Emilia and Ross will have our heads if they return and find out he's dead and nobody did anything to stop it from happening."

She seems to completely disregard the last half of what she said. "Well that's not too surprising. He's gone missing and nobody knows where he is. Perhaps that's for the better. We have more things to worry about though so if Emilia and Ross find him dead, that's their problem and not ours."

This not only infuriates Mint to the point that he can feel his own anger in the form of a red hot burning sensation in his chest, but it also makes him upset. They're not gonna even look for him to make sure he's okay? They take all this pride in making fun of him and talking shit about him behind his back but they won't dare think of saving the only thing in the colony that they constantly use as a means of making them seem better than he is.

He continues to listen in. "Well.. who do you think is inside?"

"I don't know. That's why we're gonna find out. I want every room checked, we're gonna nail this thief to the wall if there is one."

The conversation seems to end right there as they now stand in front of the den's entrance. Mint can't come out of hiding otherwise they'd all see him instantly so he'll have to wait until they all go inside. He holds his breath and tries his best to conceal all parts of himself. He's wrapped his long tail around his body and managed to grab the ends of the fur fluffs and straighten them out so that they don't stick out from the sides of the tree. All it takes is for one curious member to walk around the perimeter to find him and he'll be unable to live down what happens next.

From the corner of his left eye, he slightly peeks out from behind the tree and sees all of them entering the den. It seems like he'll be safe to come out but he then notices the windows facing towards him. One of the first rooms the group will enter will enable them to see him. He immediately runs out from behind the tree and goes for the stairs while running on all fours. Luckily for him, nobody stayed outside to check for anyone escaping. Instead of taking the stairs this time, he opts to jump from the top step to get down faster. He doesn't take the landing too well and ends up losing all his balance and slides into the dirt.

He keeps sliding and this makes him remember that he coated his body in the slick oil earlier. This is bad, for he slowly slides towards the fountain plaza and even though at least half the colony is at the elder's den, the other half might be out and about. He slides into the fountain and grabs ahold of the side to stop him from bouncing off. He stands up and notices that his fur is pristine despite sliding on dirt. He doesn't have time to think about why this is the case as he's now in the center of the colony and completely exposed.

He looks around and there doesn't seem to be anyone around, but his ears suddenly pick up 4 familiar voices: Rachel, Patricia, Wesley, and Sean. Their voices are very clear and it means he's very close to them. Their voices don't seem to be getting closer or farther away so he simply listens in while making sure nobody appears on his side of the fountain.

"You don't know where he is?" says Wesley.

"No, the only thing that could be a hint to what happened or where he is is a stone we found in his den." Rachel responds.

A small pause, Mint assumes they took it along with them. How dare they, stealing from him when they should clearly know better. The silence is broken by Sean. "Isn't this a.."

Patricia cuts him off. "Yep, that's exactly what you're thinking it is. For some reason, it seems to have lost all it's latent power and is covered in this weird, slick oil."

Wesley responds in a pensive tone. "Do you really think it's possible?"

They all seem to hum in agreement. The secret is out, Mint's identity is known by them and only them now. If he wants it to stay that way, he'd have to knock each of them out. This isn't an option. The only thing he can do now is hope they don't round the fountain, otherwise it's all over.

Mint clenches his paws into fists and grinds his teeth. "_I knew I should've done something about that fucking rock before I left! I wish I knew they'd come looking for me… They don't know where I am though, so it doesn't matter until they physically see me._"

He continues to listen in as the conversation starts back up thanks to Rachel. "If he really did evolve into a Cinccino, then we're gonna have to tell the others. If I remember correctly… in the event the elder ends up dying or is unable to pick someone to be the next elder, the next elder is any Minccino who evolves into a Cinccino by luck of finding their own Shiny Stone."

Wesley growls. "That slimeball doesn't deserve anything that comes with becoming the colony elder. He's the scum of this colony and nobody likes him. If it wasn't for his stupid parents who barely love each other, he'd be dead already. I say we find him and make sure his last breath is taken before he ends up fucking all of us over."

Sean seems to like this idea. "I agree with Wesley, not only do we get rid of him, it's revenge for what he did to your face, Patricia. I know you beat him, but I say it's better if he's dead."

She also seems to like this idea. "Yeah! The last thing we need is for him to start telling us what we can and can't do, and he can't do that if he's dead!" she seems to slap her paws together. "We'll have to start looking for him though, even if it means going very deep into this forest."

Rachel seems to not be totally on board with the idea. "Guys… if we go hunting for him, what happens if we get lost in the woods? Those vicious Pokemon rumors might be true…"

Sean responds cockily. "Strength in numbers, we're 4 against what? 2? We'll easily stomp them."

Wesley agrees. "Yeah! Now c'mon! If he's out there, he's gonna eventually be coming back here to take control. Now who's with me?"

They all seem to agree and they quickly take off towards Mint's den. He can't believe what he heard. This could possibly be a fate worse than evolving and getting found out by the regular colony Minccino. His bullies have turned from bullies to murderers and will probably stop at nothing to find him. He comes out from hiding, still not believing what they said to be true. All this over him evolving. He shakes his head and tears start to well up in his eyes.

"_I evolve… a-and this is w-what I have to deal with now?_" he says to himself quietly. He stands there, looking at the ground, his feet, his scarf even, thinking about what the Minccino from earlier had said combined with what his bullies had just said. Tears drop from his eyes and soak the ground and even his fur. Once again, his evolution has done nothing but cause more problems and pain rather than change anything about his life besides what he looks like. The same old hatred and abuse from everyone, except 100 times worse now.

He starts to get angry, much angrier than ever before. He clenches his left paw into a fist that's impossibly hard and he punches the ground, making a massive hole in it along with cracking it a bit. He then turns his attention to the fountain and as he looks at it, he hears all the things that've been said to him at this very location over the years. All the humiliation, pain, and depression turn into flames, heat, and rage. He feels a massive scream wanting to come out and not caring about what happens to him if he does this, he opens his mouth as wide as it can go and instead of a normal scream, he lets loose a "Hyper Voice" the likes of which has never been heard before.

The massive sound wave not only alerts the entire colony to his location, but it also damages and destroys anything in close proximity to him. Some of the dens have weak windows and they get blown out instantly. Parts of the dens crack and even cave-in on themselves under the immense force of the sound wave. The fountain in front of him takes the full force of the attack, part of the center where water sprays out from is blown away and the entire fountain pool cracks, leaking water onto the ground. Finally, anyone in the dens near the plaza temporarily loses their hearing and instead, hears a loud ringing.

He can't bear to look at what he's done and knowing that everyone is about to race to his location to figure out what happened, Mint has only one option: Run. He does just that as sparkly tears fall out of his eyes. He runs on all fours towards his home but plans on going much further than that. He's gonna go past his bullies, even if they try to stop him. He's gonna hope his parents don't find out as he plans on going beyond the forest. His head is dead-set on the Skyarrow Bridge. Nobody will follow him that far and if they do, they won't follow him to the well known Castelia City. His mind is flooded with negative thoughts and all he wants is to escape this hell. They say that Castelia City is known for new beginnings, no matter who you are, and perhaps if he makes it there without being killed, maybe he'll have a chance at one of these supposed "new beginnings".

* * *

**PD: Interesting... read on to find out, so seeya in the next chapter!**


	13. Skyarrow Bridge

**Skyarrow Bridge**

As his paws kick dirt up into tiny clouds, Mint runs as fast as he can to escape the entourage of hell that he raised back in the colony. Tears fall from his eyes and he only wants one thing: to escape from it all. He knows his bullies are somewhere up ahead on the path, it's only a matter of time before he encounters them. He isn't planning on sticking around with them and will run through them if he has to. No fights. No insults. No pain. Nothing. It will be quick and wordless.

The light of the late morning sunshine has suddenly been blocked out by very thick clouds that have seemingly shown up from out of nowhere. The wind is also starting to kick up, blowing the leaves and grasses around, as well as Mint's fur. The deathly cold chill of the wind doesn't bother him, but it carries a warning with it. A pretty nasty storm is on its way and anyone caught in it might have some difficulty getting home.

He doesn't care, for he runs forwards and presses deeper into the forest, coming up to that fork in the road his mother and him found when they brought Ross to Nacrene City's hospital. He takes the right path like last time and keeps going. He's silent the entire time, but keeps crying. He runs through the bends, almost drifting through them in some cases. When he conquers all the corners, he sees the 4 bullies dead ahead. They seem to have stopped for a rest.

Seeing them makes Mint push beyond what he's capable of and hits a speed that he's never ran at before. All 4 of his bullies block the way and running through them isn't the best idea, so instead, Mint opts to jump over them since he has the speed to do it. None of them notice that he's coming up real fast and instead seem to be in a conversation about something that's not important.

Mint dashes right up to them and at the last second, jumps over them. He clears them with ease and lands, continuing to run down the path. All 4 of his bullies can barely comprehend what happened.

"Whoa! What was that!?" Says Wesley, a bit shocked by whatever it was that flew past them.

Rachel looks in the direction it went, but it's already gone without a trace. "Whatever it was, it was moving at an extremely high speed. Seems like it's in a hurry to get somewhere."

Patricia frowns. "What if that was Mint? Shouldn't we go after him?"

Sean shakes his head. "Mint's nowhere capable of moving THAT fast. Whatever Pokemon that was had a speed stat over 200 easily to be able to disappear in such a short amount of time."

Wesley agrees with him. "True that. Mint has to be somewhere in this forest. He wouldn't dare try to leave or go too far without someone else to help him like the baby he is." They all nod and look down the path. They have no clue that it really was Mint who passed them, but they'll find this out much later when they can't figure out where he's gone.

Mint doesn't even look back. He continues to look straight ahead and he jumps over the fallen tree trunk he and his mother saw on the way to Nacrene City. He's getting closer to the Skyarrow Bridge and by extension, Castelia City. A quick thought glances his mind regarding his parents but is instantly thrown out of his head. His parents won't recognize him, at least, that's what he thinks.

The trees start to lighten up and not long after, he comes to the paved road that cuts through the middle of the forest. He stops and looks at the entrance gate for the bridge. There's nobody guarding the gate and he'd have a clear path onto the bridge. He takes a deep breath. His heart is racing and he can feel his nerves acting up. The minute he steps foot onto the bridge, he'll become the first Pokemon living in Pinwheel Forest to actually leave and enter the mainland Unova region.

This isn't something he'll be proud of. It doesn't have to be this way, but the damage has been done and the entire colony will definitely be on the lookout for him now after what he did. He can't go back, his bullies are trying to kill him and the colony would kill him the moment they realize what his evolution entails according to elder tradition. Sadly, he'll be leaving his parents without a clue as to where he's gone and he didn't even have the ability to say good-bye to them. From here on out, he'll be truly alone with nobody to fall back on if something bad happens. In his eyes, he'd rather die by the hands of a human or other Pokemon rather than the ones who have been making his life a living nightmare.

He stands on two feet and begins to slowly walk towards the gate. The light inside is very bright and almost seems to shine like a beacon, a beacon of hope for a better life. He doesn't know what he's going to encounter on the bridge, nor does he know what Castelia City has in store for him, but he knows one thing and that he won't be dealing with bullies or sadness and depression anymore. He's leaving his old life behind him and hopes that in doing so, he'll finally get what he's always wanted, to be loved, appreciated, and accepted for who he is.

He now stands at the foot of the gate. He looks around and notices that there's nobody else around, not a single human in sight. This is odd, he thought there'd be many people here since this bridge leads to the biggest city in the whole region and people are constantly coming and going.

"_Strange… there's not a single human here. Is today a holiday or something?_" is what he thinks to himself. He takes another deep breath and then walks on through. The bright lights transform into a small room where one can take a breather if they just so happened to have walked through the entire bridge. Normally, there'd also be an attendant behind the small counter that could give you snacks and refreshments too, but they seem to be missing.

He doesn't spend too much time here and walks up the stairs to enter the bridge but to his surprise, when he leaves the little gate, he comes to a small little area where the entire bridge is on display. Seeing it on the beach is one thing, but at this very specific spot, it's a whole different view. Unlike on the beach, the ENTIRE bridge can be seen and it's way longer than Mint thought it was before.

His mouth is slightly open due to being surprised at the size. He's got a hell of a long way to go before he gets to Castelia City. "_W-wow… this bridge is much much bigger than I previously thought… the beach doesn't do it justice at all!_"

He gets over this initial shock. "_I-It doesn't matter… I can't go back now, I've made it all the way here and it's pointless to go back to that terrible place… They'll just kill me_._ I still have a long way to go but once I make it, everything's gonna be better_."

He walks into the checkpoint gate and while there's not much to see, he takes it in and quickly moves on. He exits the checkpoint and right before him stands the actual bridge. The path is quite wide and could accommodate many people and Pokemon at once. The bridge starts out by spiraling up and then straightens out for the rest of the walk.

Mint begins the long journey and compared to when he was down in the forest, the wind is much more relentless and stronger here. It blows his fur fluffs to the side and also blows his tail to the side as well. This doesn't bother him too much but comes off as more annoying than anything. As he ascends the small spiral, he looks through the gaps in the railing and can see just how big Pinwheel Forest actually is. He can't see his colony from here due to being higher than the trees thanks to the massive height increase the spiral has, but he can see that the forest is massive. On the other side as he walks, he notices an area that seems to be all burnt up and destroyed. This raises a couple questions in his head, but mainly, what was it that caused that section of the forest to be destroyed. It doesn't seem to be a forest fire because everyone would've been evacuated in his colony and other surrounding colonies too.

He doesn't worry about it for too long, because he reaches the top of the spiral and now faces the super long, 1 mile long walk ahead of him. Not even the distance from his home to where the Skyarrow Bridge gate is close to this. A mile doesn't sound that long, but it's much longer than any distance Mint has ever walked in his life in one shot. As he walks, he can see the skyline of Castelia City, his goal isn't too far away but far enough that it seems like it'll take forever for him to get there. Mint looks up and notices the large tower supports on the bridge. There is a little archway over the path due to the design of these towers, seeing them makes him ever so slightly happy. He looks through the railing gaps and notices that he's over the ocean now and can see ships sailing below him. He also notices just exactly how high he is.

"_T-that's quite a drop! I wouldn't wanna fall here, I don't think I'd be able to swim ashore!_" he says to himself as he admires the beautiful ocean view. His view, however, is interrupted by the sound of a loud, mechanical object quickly approaching him. He looks to see what it is and notices that it's a car and on first glance, he thinks it's headed right for him so he cowers and puts his paws up, only for it to pass right by him, leaving him unharmed. He opens his eyes and puts his paws down and takes another look.

Below him is a 6 lane road where 3 lanes are dedicated to traffic going to the city and 3 lanes are dedicated to traffic leaving the city. He takes a breath of relief, he was scared over nothing. The cars and trucks below him seem to be moving at a very high speed, well above what he's capable of running at. All the people going in and out, how their lives seem much better than his. He looks back up, he's not even a quarter of the way across the bridge and the weather seems to remind him of what he's racing against as a very powerful gust of wind batters the bridge and him. He crouches down to avoid being blown into the railing and waits it out, holding his position for a few seconds as it slowly winds down.

He fixes the fur fluffs on his back. "_I gotta get going… the weather is about to get nasty and I don't want to get caught in whatever it is that's coming._" he says this to himself, noting the very dark clouds to his east. Whatever it is doesn't seem to be kidding around and at this time of the year with the random spells of cold temperatures, it's quite possible that it could be a snowstorm or a rainstorm coming his way. He isn't gonna stick around to find out and he starts to run on all fours across the bridge.

The wind blowing through his fur and the cold air all feel pretty good to him. He isn't enjoying himself on this trip across the bridge, he thought he'd be happy to leave but for some reason, he's indifferent about it. He's glad to not be in the crosshairs of danger anymore by his own peers but he isn't happy that he had to leave his parents, the only two Minccino left that would be helpful to him. He frowns for a moment as he thinks about what they'll say when they find out he's gone.

"_I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry dad, but I just had to do it. I didn't want to be hunted down over evolving. I wish I could've seen you before all of this happened, but everything went by in a flash and I'm here now. There's nothing I can do… I just hope that you'll understand and don't come looking for me. The last thing I need is to hear that you've both gotten hurt or killed if I do return someday. I love you both… I hope I'll be able to come back sooner than I think…_" is what he wishes he could tell them. He can't though, for he's already on the bridge to a better life.

The sound of boat horns below and car engines pumping mix in with the sound of his little foosteps. He focuses on the task at hand, and that's getting to Castelia City. He looks up and notices that slowly but surely, he's getting there with each step he takes. The promising, sky piercing buildings stand in front of him, watching and judging every move and step he takes. They know of the terrible life he's decided to leave behind, but they also know the truth and the future. They try to tell him what's going to happen, they know that his stay won't be for very long. Mint has no idea that these buildings are trying to speak to him, he only sees them for what they are.

He's made it to the halfway point on the bridge. The dark clouds to the east are quickly drawing near and the wind starts cranking more than before. The air temperature is also starting to take a small plunge, a warning that whatever precipitation that's coming is going to be just as cold, if not colder. Mint still isn't bothered by this. His fur is very good at keeping him warm, and with the long scarf around his neck, he's not going to get cold anytime soon. Even with him running against the ice-cold wind, he's maintaining his normal body temp. Every breath he takes is now faintly visible, a sign the air temp is getting closer to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. He takes note of this. "_My breath is starting to become visible… whatever brought those dark clouds is also bringing colder temperatures with it. We just might get snow if it's cold enough…_" he says quietly. If it were to start snowing, he wouldn't be too worried. Unlike rain, snow won't get him soaked if he's out in it for a while.

Right as he takes his next breath, a little white thing falls past him. He knows exactly what it is and stops to take a look up at the sky above. Another one falls past him and he puts his right paw out. The next one that falls lands in the center of his paw and quickly melts into a tiny drop of water. No doubt about it, the weather is about to change to a brisk snowfall. While some snow never hurt anyone, being on a bridge like this when snow is heavily falling and the visibility is way down can be a bit of an uneasy experience, especially at night.

"_I was right, looks like we're gonna get snow. I hope it isn't something that's gonna be super heavy, otherwise I won't be able to see if I'm still on the bridge._" he says to himself as he places his paw on his scarf for a second before getting back on all fours and running across once again. He doesn't want to be caught in a sudden burst of heavy snow if it could make things difficult to see for him.

He picks up the pace. The snowflakes softly falling around him is a beautiful sight, and it reminds him of what he used to do when he was younger whenever it snowed outside and accumulated on the ground. He remembers jumping into it and throwing it all around. He remembers flinging a pile of snow at his father who responded with a bigger pile. He remembers having fun and smiling. The last few times they had snow, this didn't happen, and now, it won't ever happen again since he won't be going back.

The end of the Skyarrow Bridge is slowly drawing near and the flakes get blown around in the harsh wind, changing their course and fate forever. Dead ahead is the city that Mint hopes will change his life and fate forever. He's run almost the entire way from his home in Pinwheel Forest and he's gotten very tired and winded. His lungs ache and his muscles want to give in but he's still pushing. His goal is right in front of him and as he reaches the large staircase going down into the checkpoint leading into Castelia City, he looks up at the buildings one last time. He can't see them too well as the snow has started falling at a rate that reduces visibility by a fairly large amount.

It doesn't matter now, he'll be able to look up and see those same buildings once he walks through the checkpoint gate. He doesn't go immediately. He adjusts the scarf around his neck and fixes the fur fluffs on his head and straightens them out so they wrap around properly. He wants to look his best even if nobody in the city's going to notice him. He's a Pokemon that's about to take his first step into a new life, leaving the old one he had behind him forever, but as he walks into the checkpoint gate, he can't shake off a strange feeling that he'll be coming back. He doesn't know why but he does his best to ignore it, the only reason he'd go back is to see his parents, but if and when he does go back, he has no clue that he'll be going back for a completely different reason...

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**PD: A bit of foreshadowing at the end. I won't say ANYTHING because that's no fun knowing what's gonna happen before we even get close to it. Anyway, Mint's made it all the way here. Is this new place really going to change anything for him? Find out when I seeya in the next chapter!**


	14. Castelia City And Fai The Emolga

**PD: Giving the heads up in advance, this is a longer than usual chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

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**Castelia City And Fai The Emolga**

Mint stands in the checkpoint gate leading into Castelia City. He's finally made here after what almost felt like an eternity of running on the bridge. All that running has completely tuckered him out and he can barely walk anymore. All parts of his body ache and his breathing is ultra heavy and long but he holds a small smile on his face. He's made it and that's all that matters at this point. He holds his chest, the discomfort and pain of his lungs burning as he takes each deep and much deserved breath of air. He tries his best to ignore it and looks around. Unlike the checkpoint back at the forest, this one is significantly bigger and has quite a few people inside. There's also an electronic billboard and a couple TV's to alleviate boredom if one has to wait for someone or something.

From the corner of his eye, he sees that the snow has picked up outside through a nearby window. He lucked out and managed to avoid getting caught by the heavy snow. Now that he's in Castelia, he can relax for a little bit since the snow won't be causing him any problems now. He slowly walks across the room, his ears catching the TV news reporter talking about the weather. "_As for the weather in our wonderful Castelia City, everyone is seeing snow, and lots of it is still to come! Expect a total of 8-12 inches of snow by the time this storm system moves out! Along the way, temperatures will continue to drop from the low 30's into the mid and upper 20's later today. Once the sun goes down, we'll be seeing frigid temperatures, with some places just outside of the city going into the single digits! Most of Castelia will be hovering around the 10-15 degree mark, so bundle up if you're going out later tonight! Stay warm and we'll keep you updated with any changes that this early winter storm might bring!_"

Hearing that nearly a foot of snow is going to fall along with the rather cold temperatures doesn't phase Mint at all. He's actually happy to hear about the snow and the cold. His fur is more than enough to keep him warm, plus he has the scarf around his neck and since not many people and Pokemon like the cold, the city will be even easier to get around in due to less foot traffic. He can only think of all the great and wonderful things that await him once he passes through the opposite end of the gate. "_Oh man… I hear that this place has everything you could ever want! Good food, excellent places to stay, many friendly faces, tons of jobs for people and Pokemon… there's just so much here that I can't even name it all! This is going to be one heck of a ride from here on out, and things can only go up from here!_" he says to himself and his pendant starts to glow and sparkle.

Despite being super tired and worn out, he gets down on all fours and makes his way through the checkpoint and out into the city. He's officially here now and in front of him stands massive buildings that pierce the heavens. The streets are lined with people, Pokemon, cars, and buses. Through the snow, he can see the neon signs showing various stores and venues he can check out. LCD Screens bigger than those found in normal homes line some of the buildings and advertise shows, food, cars, and pretty much anything you can think of. Unlike the view from the Skyarrow bridge, he can no longer see the tops of the skyscrapers. The tops break through the seemingly unreachable ceiling of clouds and enter the realm of the sky, one that can only be reached by certain Pokemon.

The streets are starting to get covered with the pure white flakes that fall from the sky slowly and silently, painting the road a beautiful but dangerous white. Cars and Buses move at a slightly slower speed to avoid slipping but people and Pokemon walking on the sidewalks don't worry one bit. Their big, comfy coats and clothes keep them warm even when the chilly wind tries to steal it away. As for Mint, the wind simply blows the flakes into his face and most of them slide off thanks to the special oil that coats it, but some of them stick and melt away quickly since his body is quite warm. His fur waves and the very end of his scarf flutters as the wind tries to make him feel cold, but it only just makes him feel better.

"_Wow… this… this place is sooo pretty! All the snow falling makes it even better!_" he says as he starts walking on the sidewalk, admiring everything around him. While standing at the checkpoint entrance, he didn't notice it but he does now as he walks, the city is quite loud, and not a plain old loud, but more of an "in your face" loud. As he walks, there are open air markets with the owners yelling out to the crowds, trying to entice them into buying their merchandise. People who aren't that fortunate line some of the alleyways and even the sidewalks in an attempt to beg the rich into sharing their wealth.

As he looks to his left and notices the bridge and a nice view of the ocean in between the cars and buses, a random piece of trash flies at him and hits him in the face. Luckily for him, it's only just a loose page from a newspaper and he simply removes it from his face. He IMMEDIATELY realizes that as nice as this place is, it's also quite filthy at the same time and the urge to clean himself starts to burn within him, but without a place to do that, it would simply have to wait. He ignores it as best he can and continues to walk down the street.

A sign in front of him reads "Royal Unova: next block on the left! Use the crosswalk and safely cross to experience a cruise that can only be described as nothing less than kingly!" and true to what it says, through gaps in peoples legs, he can see a massive cruise ship sitting in the water in one of the docks exactly a block away. It seems that people are boarding the ship and it's getting ready to take off in a few minutes. The sign also has a few more things on it too, arrows showing different places in the city, like "Mode Street", "Narrow Street", and "Castelia Shopping District".

He can only look around in complete mesmeration and wonder. There's so much going on around him that he can barely get a grip on one thing before another, more interesting thing pops up in his face. "_Whoa… There's so much to do here… W-where do I even begin? I can't decide where to go first!_" he starts walking and looking around all over the place, not paying attention to where he's going.

He starts walking backwards to take a look at a billboard when he ends up bumping and crashing into another Pokemon who was standing around waiting for something. They both fall onto the concrete and the stranger immediately stands up, quite angry at Mint for what he did. They yell at him. "YO! Watch where you're fucking walking!"

He looks up at them and notices what he walked into, an Emolga with their hands on their hips, giving him quite a nasty stare. He doesn't know that he's looking at them in a somewhat dumbfounded way and this makes them yell at him again. "I'm talking to you, yeah that's right! You're the only barf green Pokemon I've seen all day and I can't possibly be talking to anyone else!"

Mint stands up, he doesn't like that this stranger is calling him that name but he's also a bit afraid to do anything about it. They get up in his face, almost spitting as they speak. "Are you gonna say you're sorry? You just fucking walked into me like I wasn't even there! You know how rude that is?"

He goes to speak but can only mutter useless sounds. "I… I... b… u… u…"

The Emolga's eyes become even more intense, thinking that he's not gonna apologize. They let loose little bolts of electricity from their cheek pouches and this makes him back up, a bit frightened and worried. He puts his paws up and shakes his head quickly, trying to tell them non-verbally to not attack. They stop the electricity and yell at him. "THEN SPEAK UP YOU FUCKING PUKE PUDDLE!"

He retracts back a little from their yelling. The yelling actually grabs the attention of another Pokemon nearby, someone who is quite familiar. The Emolga is clearly upset with how Mint is handling the situation and charges their cheek pouches again and yells once more. "I should teach you some manners you weirdo! I don't know where the fuck you came from or what you think gives you the fucking right to walk into other Pokemon, but I'm here to tell you that you ain't fucking doing that shit to me again! To hell with you!"

They prepare to attack and he turns around, covering his head in response, bracing himself for the hit but without warning, another Pokemon's voice is heard behind him. "HEY! DON'T START FIGHTING! STOP THE ATTACK!" the voice is familiar to him and he looks up to see who it is.

Coming in hot is Scott the Pikachu, he stops right in front of the Emolga, telling them off. "You're about to attack an innocent Pokemon! Don't do it!"

They yell at him now. "And why not? He fucking ran into me and didn't apologize! He deserves to be taught a lesson."

They shake their head in disagreement and put a hand on their shoulder. "C'mon Fai, it was just an accident… I'm sure he didn' mean anythin' by it. Besides, if I'm right, this Cinccino is actually a good kid and a good friend o' mine."

Mint is slightly surprised to hear this when Scott has no idea of his evolution. "_H-he recognizes who I am…? But how?_" he whispers.

Fai calms down a little, but is still a bit burnt up. She crosses her arms and looks away. "Alright fine, but you better get him to apologize. I don't like being walked into, even though it sorta happens here on a daily basis."

Scott smiles. "That's better! Now…" he turns around to face Mint. "She ain't gonna hurt ya, so please apologize for whatever it is that ya did."

Mint slowly walks up to her, tapping his paws together anxiously and tries his best to apologize, but since he's extremely nervous, it doesn't really come out that well. "I-I… I-I'm… S-sorry for… f-for hitt… hitting you." his cheeks begin to turn a deep shade of red and he looks away, unable to maintain eye contact.

Fai shakes her head in disappointment, she was expecting a somewhat better apology. "That's it? Not gonna say anything else like if I'm okay or if I was hurt?"

Scott steps in. "Lay off him, Fai. He's one of those socially awkward types don't you see?" She simply looks away with a 'hmph!'. He tries to explain it better. "Don't be like that. Look, this kid isn't a monster, he's got quite a big heart y'know. He's just got a confidence and social anxiety problem. Please be nice to him, he isn't someone who really needs more problems, he has enough to deal with already."

She turns to him. "Don't we all have enough problems? Being walked into counts as one of them, right?"

"Yeah, but that's nothing compared to what he's dealt with for most of his life. Cut him some slack, he didn't do it to hurt you or cause problems." he says, hoping to calm her further.

She uncrosses her arms and seems to loosen up a bit. She sighs and takes a somewhat deep breath before speaking. "Okay, maybe you've got a point. To be fair, I haven't seen a Cinccino with mint-green fur in this city before, and I've been living here for years. New folks come and go and he just might be a newbie so perhaps it was wrong of me to react in such a volatile manner." she then turns to Mint and bows. "I'm so sorry, my reaction was a bit harsh, wasn't it?"

Scott seems to be pleased. "Now THAT's better!" he turns to Mint. "Now, what're ya doin' in Castelia, Mint? I thought you had a fort to hold down back in the forest after what had happened."

He doesn't want to tell him what happened after the last time he saw him. Scott simply shrugs. "Oh well… the same silent treatment I always get. You're a pisser, you know that?"

He doesn't quite get it and continues to stay silent. He turns to Fai and gives her a couple gentle slaps on the back. "Well, I hate to leave on such a short notice, but I got shit to do! I didn't just come here to break up fights ya know. Fai and Mint, you two better get along nicely or else when I come back, we're gonna have problems." he says with a very aggressive tone, but then he lightens up instantly and laughs. "Just kidding! But really, I hope you two get along nicely, I don't want any street brawls." he then gives Fai a small peck on the cheek. "I'll see you around Fai, take care!"

She smiles at him. "Yeah yeah… get out of here you stupid goofy bastard." she seems to suck up this little kiss as if it was nothing. From this, Mint can tell they seem to know each other quite well and while he's interested in finding out more, he's too anxious and shy to ask.

Fai turns to him and tilts her head a bit. "Alright. I don't know about you, but I was gonna do some shopping. While most _normal_ weirdos would get a beating out of me, you being a friend of Scott means you have a free pass to avoid it, but don't get any ideas!"

Mint says nothing and simply nods, trying to show that he understands. She smiles and puts her hands on her hips again. "You really are one of them, aren't you? Socially awkward, silent, mysterious… I kinda like that. I just might like you quite a bit after all, kid."

He blushes and a small smile comes from the little compliment she gave him. Now that she's not yelling or threatening to attack him, he's able to get a pretty good look at her. She's pretty much the same height as him and has large ears that are black with yellow and white on the inside, a tail that's black and almost resembles a lightning bolt, a white face with two yellow cheek pouches, somewhat large, black eyes, a white body, and finally, little yellow flaps that allow her to fly and glide in the wind. She's also pretty, but Mint isn't really affected by it that much, although she does notice that he's looking at her.

"What's up? Why are you looking at me like that?" she then thinks he's admiring her and her expression becomes smug. "Oh? Do you like what you see?" she then winks at him. While she is cute, Mint doesn't like her in that way.

He shakes his head and tries to speak up. "W-well… n-no…" he taps his paws together anxiously and tucks his feet in close to each other. He tries to continue as to not seem rude. "Y-you're pretty… b-but…"

She giggles. "I understand! You don't have to stress out! I know I'm pretty, and hell, you're kinda cute too." she then walks up to him and then pokes his nose, making him flinch. "C'mon, loosen up! I'm not gonna bite you, but I may zap you if you can't start talking in complete sentences." she then giggles. She does seem to have taken a liking to him, but it's confusing as all hell to him and he doesn't know what to make of it.

She turns around and slowly walks away. "Follow me, I can tell you're new to Castelia and since you're Scott's friend, I shall give you the Fai assured, top quality tour that newbies like you require in order to survive here!"

He's a bit reluctant to follow, he doesn't trust her and unlike Scott, she doesn't have that same trustworthy vibe coming from her. Despite it, he swallows down the doubt and walks up to her and they walk alongside each other. She notices that he's still quite tense so she tries to ease it up. "Alright, I'm gonna tell you a bit about myself before we start. First off, you should know my name by now, if not, most of my peers and friends call me 'Fai'. It's a shorter version of my real name but it sucks hard so I prefer that anyone who meets me for the first time stay with the program and just call me 'Fai'. I've been living here for about 9 years and I'm gonna warn you, there's some crazy shit that happens in this city. I've seen it all and most of it won't be anything you have to worry about, unless of course, another Pokemon comes up to you and pins you against a wall in an alleyway and demands you give them anything of value that you currently have." she then points to Mint's pendant. "Like that for example."

She then waves her hand around a bit. "Just stay with the flow of the city and most of the time you'll be fine. Anyway, that's enough about me, how about you?"

His eyes widen a bit and he seems to get even more nervous. She notices this and comments on it. "Oh c'mon! Did you really think I was gonna do all the talking? I told you who I am, now I wanna know who you are. It's better to know the Pokemon that's walking next to you because you never know…"

He sighs and while very nervous, he quietly speaks. "M-my name i-is M-Mint… I-I… I crossed… t-the Skyarrow b-bridge…" she stops him.

"Okay… hold up… I don't need to know about what you did, I can tell that you ran across that bridge, you aren't from around here. Everyone has a story for why they come here, so tell me that, Mint." she says.

He sighs. This story he has isn't one he's willing to tell just yet, not to mention, it only just reminds him of the terrible life he used to have. He's in the city of new beginnings, not old rememberings. He'd rather say he doesn't have a story to tell yet because he wanted to start over from scratch, but he can't even say that either because she seems to be the type of Pokemon that can see through it. He tries to make up something convincing but can't and opts to just stay silent. Fai notices that he's starting to shut out again and takes the conversation in a different direction.

"Nevermind that then…" she turns down one of the streets and Mint does the same. "Maybe tell me after we're done with the tour." she then runs ahead a bit and turns around, holding her hand out to stop him, which he does. "Alright Mint, since this is your first time in Castelia City, I'm going to show you the most important places here. You can explore the rest when we're done, but for now, stay close and listen up! The road we're standing on right now leads straight to the center of the city, and that's our first stop!" She starts running off and he follows close behind exactly like she said.

As they run, she starts explaining a few things. "First of all: Everyone knows Castelia is the largest city in Unova! Second: It's never a good idea to be in Castelia at night without a partner or a group of friends! Third: Getting lost, while difficult, is not something to get worried about! There's signs everywhere so get used to keeping your eyes peeled! Finally: Everything you could ever want is right here, so make sure you've got tons of money to spend otherwise you'll regret it!"

They run up to the center which reveals the city's famous "Cast Square", a massive district with many shops and businesses lining both sides of the street. Mint's mouth opens a little at the sheer amount of stuff he sees. There are massive screens with ads, tons of neon lit signs, billboards, stores, and lots of people and Pokemon. Of course, the snow is also mixed in with all of this and only adds to the extreme sensory stimulation that Cast Square gives off. Fai waves her hand in front of his face and he snaps out of this trance-like state the initial reveal put him in. She looks into his eyes.

"Earth to Minty boy! Don't space out on me here!" he notices this and shakes his head to disperse of the shock and she takes a few steps back, holding her hands out over her head. "This is Cast Square! The heart and soul of the city! Almost everything that involves business and money can be found here. Fine dining? Check! Shop till you drop? Bingo! Stock market and big bucks? Fuck yeah! Since you're new here, this place is probably not the best to start out with when it comes down to exploring but I can say that you should definitely visit at some point!"

She then runs up to him and grabs his left paw, causing him to become a bit surprised. "Now let's go! We got quite a few more places to get to!" he's given no time to say anything in response to her grabbing his paw as she leads him to the next area, running back the way they came and then taking a left into what looks like a smaller, older area of the city. Unlike Cast Square, this place has a slightly darker and more rustic feel to it. The buildings are made out of brick rather than the regular steel and reinforced concrete. Down the road is a familiar building, the Pokemon Center.

Fai points it out. "You see that building over there? It's probably the second most important place to know in this city! There's a few other Pokemon Centers here but because this is close to my home, I decided to show this one to you. If ANYTHING bad happens to you, like a fight or if someone decides to rob you or something and hurts you in the process, these places are what'll put you back onto your feet in no time!"

She turns to him and looks him deeply in the eyes. "Now I know what you're thinking, why a Pokemon Center in such an old looking place? Well come along with me and I'll show you." she lets go of his paw and starts walking down the street.

Mint follows and takes in his surroundings. There isn't anything that's really in your face here, but it feels nice, a somewhat slower paced location in such an action packed city. They continue to walk down the brick building laden path towards the Pokemon Center and even going past it. At the end of this block, they come out to a rather big fountain plaza that looks similar to the one at Mint's colony. Seeing this makes him shudder and a shadow falls over his face momentarily. Fai doesn't see this luckily otherwise she would definitely say something. The fountain plaza itself has quite a few benches for people and Pokemon to sit on, some water fountains to quench thirst, and of course, the giant fountain in the center spewing out copious amounts of water.

Mint tries his best to not let the plaza bring back memories of what recently happened and instead, focuses on Fai. She turns around to face him. "This is the fountain plaza. If you've had a long day of walking around in the city, this is a good place to stop and rest up. I know humans like to call their friends or lovers here sometimes, although I've never seen any Pokemon bring their lovers here… hehe."

She then walks up to him and pokes him in the nose once again. "Now, we have two or three more places left. Stay very close because this next place is almost always crowded to all hell and I don't want to lose you. Actually…" she grabs his left paw again. "We're going hand in hand this time!" she then starts to walk with him and although she doesn't see it, Mint is a bit embarrassed to be holding hands with her. His cheeks are bright red as he's never held hands with anyone in his life, let alone a girl.

They walk out of the old district and then make a left, heading down towards the gate to the Skyarrow bridge, but not going to it. They make another left and are greeted to a massive crowd of people and Pokemon. Fai tightens her grip on Mint's paw and even though he's embarrassed, he does the same. There's a reason she did that after all. She turns her head to face him. "You better keep that grip nice and tight because I'm gonna get us through this crowd. Our next destination is on the other side."

She takes a deep breath and then presses forwards. Mint gets right up behind her but leaves about 3 inches between him and her so that he doesn't walk into her if she has to stop. Fai starts pushing her way through the big group of people, pushing their legs apart slightly to allow both her and Mint through. The crowd is very big and this whole thing is extremely nerve wracking for Mint, but for Fai, it's just another day in the city. After what feels like almost 5 minutes, they get through and they both take a small breather.

Fai begins to laugh a little but Mint simply wipes his forehead of sweat with his right paw. They're still holding each other and they both realize it. Fai gets witty and smug about it. "You know, your holding my hand in a very tight manner. Are you suuure you realllly don't like what you see?"

Mint tries to compose himself and speak. "I-I don't l-like you that way… y-you said to keep a t-tight grip, remember?"

She smiles and nods. "I sure do, but this is a bit tighter than I thought. If you like me, just say it! Pokemon say they like me all the time, there's nothing wrong with it!"

He shakes his head and points forward, noting the entire block. "H-hey, is this a shopping district?"

She lets go of his paw and presents it to him. "You betchaa! Castelia City is known for the amazing shopping district… as well as the fucking giant crowds that always form here too. If you're looking for new clothes, a good toy or video game, whatever you can think of, they'll probably have it."

The whole block is stores, stores, more stores, and so many stores that it's impossible to count. Mint takes it all in. "W-well… I don't have m-money…"

The moment Fai hears this she gets up in his face. "Did I hear what I thought you just said…?"

He nods nervously. She giggles. "Wow… talk about an unprepared newbie. Forget the rest of the tour, looks like I'll be treating you for a few days since I guarantee you'll have to find a job or something."

He wants to know what the last location would be. "W-wait… w-what about the l-last place?"

"It's not that important. Just the subway station, which is underground. It gives you complete access to almost any place in the region, except for a few towns because of stupid reasons." she says. "Anyway, we're just gonna be going back to my house for a bit. Consider this also another treat from me since you're Scott's friend." she grabs his left paw yet again and leads him on.

As much as he liked Castelia city upon arriving, a small part of him is actually starting to have second thoughts. There's a whole lot going on in this place and it might take him weeks, even months to figure it all out and adapt to living here. The city is a completely different place compared to Pinwheel forest and the way of life here seems to be always on the move. If the crowds of people and Pokemon isn't anything to go by, this whole place is, in some ways, a bit more cracked up than what it turned out to be. Stories are stories after all, and not all of them tell the truth. As much as he appreciates being away from his terrible life, the new acquaintance, Fai the Emolga, is quite a handful for him. She seems to have a bit of a short temper but is also very nice and energetic at the same time. He isn't quite sure if he can trust her yet, so for now, his guard is still up. As she leads him to where her house is, he wonders if all of this is more than what he thought it would be, and that small part of him sticks out like a sore thumb in his mind and his doubts fester. For now, he can only see where this will lead him, after all, it is a new beginning...

* * *

**PD: Mint's finally in Castelia City. He meets Fai the Emolga and they both have a nice little tour around the place thanks to her. She seems to have taken quite a liking to him, but what's with Mint's small doubts when he's finally escaped from the nightmare of yesterday? Find out in the next chapter! Seeya then!**


	15. New Home

**New Home**

The door to a cozy looking apartment is opened and Fai and Mint walk in. Fai is covered in a bit of snow but Mint isn't. As she lead him to where she lives, the snow started to fall at a very heavy rate. Luckily for them, it was only snow and not rain, otherwise they'd both possibly be at risk to catch a nasty cold. It was a good thing Fai decided to bring Mint to her apartment, because with how heavy the snow is falling, it would be a bit dangerous to be outside.

She shakes the snow off her fur as Mint closes the door behind him. She turns around to talk. "Well, here we are. Thank goodness I decided to drag you back here before the snow started falling like that."

He shrugs. He wouldn't mind being out in something as harsh as that. She walks further into the apartment and into what looks like a living room. "C'mon in, don't be shy!"

He walks forward and follows her in. Her apartment isn't anything super special. The room he's standing in right now is her living room. It has a cozy look and feel to it, with the walls all a soft but inviting red and gold. There is a moderately large TV on a table about 7 feet away from a large couch. In between these two objects is another table. There's a TV remote and a controller for a video game console sitting on it. There's a couple of lamps on tables to the left and right of the couch and on the far right wall is a bookshelf that's barely filled with any books at all. Mint also notices that under his feet is a very soft carpet whose color matches that of the walls. Even though the room feels small, it's much bigger than it actually is and even with all of the stuff in here, it still feels quite spacious.

Fai fixes some loose fur on her head, then speaks to Mint. "Well, anyway, this is it!"

He looks around and sees a few doors and another room on the left, looks to be a kitchen. Minus all the other rooms that he can't see, the place is small. "T-this place is v-very small…"

She raises an eyebrow. "Small?" she then does a small hop and moves back. "You kidding me? This place is much bigger than the average apartment most Pokemon in this city live in!" she then runs to all the closed doors and opens them all up.

Mint can now see just how big the place really is, she wasn't joking. The other rooms that he can see from where he's standing seem to be just slightly smaller than the living room. He rubs the back of his head. "W-well… the o-other rooms were closed and stuff…"

She waves it off. "Don't feel bad, you didn't see the rest of the place!" she switches gears. "Anyway, consider this another treat from me to you since you're Scott's friend. I can't just leave you out there without a place to stay for a few days until you get your bearings and make some money since you said you have none."

"M-make m-money?" he's completely confused. Back at home, his parents and everyone else would either trade for food and goods or outright find them in the forest. Money is something he's only heard of existing but he never knew that one could make it.

She shakes her head and puts her hands on her hips, quite disappointed and surprised. "I can't believe that I'm hearing you say that. You're telling me that you've never used money before in your life, nor have you ever made any?"

He nods. Her eyes widen a bit. "You came to Castelia in the most unprepared way possible… you really are a big time newbie!" She takes her hands off her hips. "It's okay, I was just like you when I first came here, buuuut that's a story for another time."

She points to what can only be her bedroom. "I'm gonna lay out the rules. First rule: Absolutely no sleeping in my bedroom. You're free to sleep out here on the couch…" she then points to another room near the kitchen. "Or in the guest bedroom. There's only a bed and a TV on a table in there and you don't seem the type to need much so that's fine, right?"

He stays silent. She takes it at face value. "I'm going to take your silence as a 'yes'. Now, Second rule: You're not allowed to break anything. If I find out that you broke something, there will be issues and I really don't want that. Finally, rule three: close the door when you use the bathroom. When I'm home alone, I don't because I don't care and nobody can see me."

He raises an eyebrow. "B-but why? D-don't all Pokemon…" she cuts him off.

"No no no… in the city, we're modernized and civilized Pokemon. We have decency and unlike most wild Pokemon, it's not the best idea to…" she blushes a little. "You know…"

He has no clue what she's talking about and she can clearly see this on his face. "Do I have to explain it?" he nods and she walks up to him and whispers in his ear. "_It's not the best idea to have your…_" she giggles. "_ Ahem… having your weiner or coochie out on display or being visible when taking a dump isn't the best idea here. Us city folk call it a humiliating and embarrassing thing_." she then pokes him in the nose and he flinches. She finds this reaction to be cute.

She walks away and jumps onto the couch, landing on it and causing some of the pillows to fly up into the air for a moment, landing back near their original spots. She pats the seat next to her while looking back at him. He walks over to the couch and sits next to her. She smiles at him and then finally asks a question she's been wanting to ask him since earlier. "Well, now that we're here and nobody else is around but the two of us, I wanna know something. Why'd you come to Castelia? Remember how I said everyone has a story for why they came? I want to know what your story is."

He looks down at the ground, his eyes slowly drop to be half open. He doesn't want to remember why he ran away, nor does he want to tell Fai. He doesn't quite trust her yet and he gets the feeling she won't stop asking so he decides to tell her straight out. "...I-I'm sorry… I j-just can't… I-I don't t-trust you enough to t-tell…"

She looks at him in wonder. Such a closed off and shut away Pokemon yet she sees someone who is really kind, nice, and pure hearted. She can't quite understand why he can't trust her when she's done quite a lot for him so far. "Huh… so you're one of those Pokemon. You can't show your true self off to anyone unless you know for sure that they're worthy of your trust and kindness, and only then do you show off your true personality. The prickly, painfully cold exterior you show to everyone else is a deterrent and shows that you aren't easy to crack and anyone that tries to crack you will be in for a rough time. I know I'm not going to be able to get you to speak, but eventually you'll crack open. A word of advice: while you might not be comfortable showing your true self off to others, if you want to make a living here, you're going to have to open up a bit to some people and Pokemon. Hell, I thought you would've opened up to me seeing as how I've taken you under my wing a bit." she shrugs. "Oh well, I can't force you."

Silence falls between them for a few moments. She starts to speak. "You know… I myself used to be a little bit like that. When I first came to Castelia 9 years ago, I was scared, lonely, and a bit hopeless. I never thought I'd survive, but I couldn't go back to the toxic life I escaped from. It was a change that I needed. The moment I arrived, I started having doubts but those disappeared when I met Scott. He saw me and for some reason wanted to help me. He took me by his hand and brought me to this very apartment."

Mint finds this odd. If Scott used to have this apartment, how did Fai manage to get it? He doesn't have to say anything for she has the answer. "He was about to leave Castelia and explore the region. When he saw me, he told me he was just ready to leave, but he changed his mind that day. He saw me in what he said was 'terrible conditions' and opted to help me. He showed me everything I needed to know about Castelia, he also let me stay in the apartment until I managed to get money. He even got me a job that let me work hard, but not strain myself in return for a good amount of cash. He took quite a liking to me, and after a few months, he rented out the apartment and gave me a few extra months of rent for free and gave me the place. I've lived here ever since that day and while I don't see him as much, we really got to know each other during that time. We hung out, had food, went to see movies and play games together. It was great."

She stops to take a breather, then continues. "But he isn't my mate or anything. He kisses me because that's how he greeted me the first time I saw him. I found it weird at first but now I don't mind. I saw you earlier when he did that, you seemed to be quite surprised."

Mint blushes a tiny bit but it can't be seen thanks to the soft glow of the lamp next to him hiding it with its light. She continues. "While he is super helpful, he's also very wise. He ain't no old man, but he's got knowledge that exceeds his own age. I don't know where he got it or who taught him, but he knows what he's doing and seems to understand how to handle any situation. I feel like he might be a world traveler, ended up seeing tons of people and Pokemon, learned as much shit as possible, and that's why he's as smart as he is. He's a good Pokemon though, and I'm glad to have met him. I don't think I'd be here without his help when I think about it, instead, I might be one of those beggars on the streets."

She sighs. "Seeing them kinda reminds me of how I used to live… I wish I could help each and every one of them out, but I don't have the money to do so. I give as much as I can but there's only so much I can throw away before I endanger my own life. Without enough money, I can't keep the apartment, and shit here isn't cheap and won't be getting cheaper anytime soon."

She looks at Mint and notices that he seems to be out of it and lost in his own thoughts. She figured this might happen but he turns to her and nods slowly. She decides to throw one last thing out before changing the subject. "Going back to your story… I don't know what life you've lived nor do I know what happened during any of it either, but I will say that no matter what it is, I hope that coming to Castelia fixes whatever it was that went wrong, because most people and Pokemon that come here usually have tales of terrible lives filled with nothing but agony and hopelessness and since this city is known as 'the city of new beginnings' many think they'll be able to start out all over again."

Part of what she said is why he's here in the first place. He wanted to escape from his old life, escape from the bullies, the hate, and the terrible fate that he would've faced had he stayed. He wanted to be accepted, loved, and appreciated too. In a city with tons of new faces, surely some of them will accept and love him as well as appreciate him. His whole reason to why he came, to live a better life and forget the hell he's lived through, that is the reason.

Fai stretches herself out, making a little grunting as she does and then adjusts herself on the couch, changing the subject. "Phew… I said a lot. As I said earlier, I was gonna go shopping, but now that I've got you, I can't really do that so my day is just boring now." she then lets loose a couple giggles. She then remembers something that she heard as a rumor about Cinccino as a species. "Oh yeah, aren't Cinccino supposed to be real picky with hygiene and stuff?"

He nods and his eyes open fully, he remembers that he was hit with some junk a few moments before he met her, not to mention, they went through a crowd of people and his fur rubbed up against them and only Arceus knows what those humans had gone through. He shivers for a moment as he realizes this. Fai tilts her head. "Are you okay? It seems as if you just got scared by something."

He shakes his head quickly. "N-no… it's just that… I-I realized how d-dirty this city is…" he then starts to itch his stomach.

She points to the bathroom. "There's a shower in there. If you want, you can clean up since it looks like you've had quite a long day…" she didn't notice it before but she does now. "And why is your fur all shiny looking?"

He quickly and quietly responds before standing up. "I-it's oil… I-I'll be done in about t-two hours..." he hastily runs into the bathroom and closes the door. The sound of the water being turned on can faintly be heard and from there, Mint begins to clean himself off. It's a release and it curbs the urge he's been feeling since earlier this morning after he covered himself in oil.

* * *

Almost two hours later like Mint said, he comes out of the bathroom, his fur looking more vibrant and vivid than before. It's also nicely groomed as well and he feels much better as far as cleanliness goes. The oil all over him wasn't annoying, but it was starting to make him itch and the shower was much needed. Fai looks over at him and takes note. "Oh wow, so that's what your fur truly looks like! I thought it looked a bit dull earlier!" she says as her eyes widen ever so slightly, not expecting him to have such a vibrant yet gorgeous color.

He holds his scarf up with his left paw and holds his right paw out away from his body slightly, showing off a little. His jet white tail and fur fluffs seem to sparkle in the light. He takes a deep breath and twirls, his tail wrapping around his lower stomach and his fur fluffs wrapping around his back a little too. He speaks. "I-I feel better too. I needed that badly…"

He starts walking over to the couch and notices that she turned the TV on. It's showing a movie that's supposed to be funny, but it really isn't at all that funny. He takes a seat next to her and below the TV he notices a small box with the time on it. It's starting to get late and his whole day was quite eventful, and with that shower, he's starting to feel sleepy. He yawns and then rests his head on the pillow next to him on the right.

Fai notices this. "Hey, if you're tired and want to sleep, you can use the bed in the room by the kitchen you know. The couch isn't the comfiest place to sleep and I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

Her words fall on deaf ears as Mint has miraculously fallen asleep in the time it took for her to explain it to him. She shakes her head and smiles, perhaps it's better she lets him be. For someone to fall asleep that quickly, they must've had a very long day. There is one thing that she's still wanting to know, and that's his story. Something about him comes off as odd, she can't pinpoint what it is that's different about him compared to everyone else she's met. Not even Scott managed to give her this same feeling. Whatever it is, it just feels slightly familiar, as if she had gone through something similar. He's hiding something, and whatever it is won't be revealed easily. She puts this all in the back of her mind for now. Tomorrow, she'll probably have to clear the path to her home and shovel snow. She'll also have to help Mint figure out how to make a living in the city, find something that he can do to get money and eventually, his own place. For now, she'll keep him around for a week or two perhaps.

As Mint sleeps away, most of his worries disappear within his dreamscape, but no matter what, he's still bothered by those second thoughts and doubts that everything will be better. He made it here, met someone who is willing to help him, and yet, he has no guarantee that everything he wants will be given to him. Love, appreciation, acceptance… the three big things he's wanted to have since he left the colony that was devoid of it all. Tomorrow truly starts the beginning of his new life, and while he's tried to leave his past behind him, something within his dreams seems to haunt him, almost as if he's made a grave mistake.

* * *

**PD: Not much to say about this chapter besides the fact that Fai has a bit of an interesting past. Anyway, seeya in the next chapter!**


	16. The First Step To A New Life

**The First Step To A "New Life"**

The early morning sunshine gives way to a completely snow-covered Castelia City. Everything is blanketed in a nice, fresh coat of pure white, fluffy snow. For most people and Pokemon, this is nothing more than a pain in the butt. The snow slows them down and forces them to clear a path from their home to where they have to go depending on which parts of the city they're in, and for those that have to drive in it, the risk of slipping and crashing is always there. With the storm that also came through, along with it was a powerful cold front that dropped the temperatures down quite a bit. A morning like this is frigid at a nice 4 degrees Fahrenheit , cold enough for water to freeze in a matter of minutes if left outside for a short while.

Mornings like this would make most people and Pokemon stay in their beds, even if they have clothing, fur, or skin that keeps them warm in such freezing temps. For Mint, if he were to step outside right now, he wouldn't be bothered by it, but it would eventually catch up to him. However, Mint isn't even awake right now, instead, he still sleeps, not knowing that a certain electric squirrel had fallen asleep next to him and during the night, shifted position to now have her head and part of her body resting against his own. A cute sight, but it won't last for long. Mint stirs and opens his eyes. The bright white glow of the sun coming from the window makes him squint and he looks away. He feels something on his stomach and where his scarf is and looks down to see Fai, asleep and resting herself on his body. He's never been in a situation like this before and his cheeks become an alarmingly deep red in no time flat.

"_W-what do I d-do? I-I can't just t-touch her, s-she'll get mad at m-me…_" he thinks to himself as drops of sweat form on his head. He lifts his right paw and goes to try and gently push her off, but he doesn't want to and he starts to shake a little. "_T-this is b-bad… I h-have to get her off, b-but how?_" He tries to think of a way that he could push her off without waking her up but anything that comes to mind sounds like it'll still wake her up anyway.

He sits there waiting. He can only hope that she wakes up soon, otherwise this extremely awkward situation will cause him to freak out, as if he isn't close to freaking out already. He can feel the heat in his cheeks has built to a feverishly high level, he's as embarrassed as physically possible, and a little bit ashamed as well. He gives a small frown to all of this, all he wants to do is get up and go outside to see the snow that had supposedly fallen last night since snow always makes him happy. He can't though, because Fai prevents him from getting up off the couch. To make it worse, in her sleep, she nuzzles her head into his scarf more and seems to sink more of her body weight into him, and although she's light, he can feel it a little. Even though he's at peak embarrassment, his cheeks become redder and his whole face begins to turn that same color. He can't stand it anymore and even though he might get yelled at her, he decides to take the risk and grabs her hands, preparing to push her off.

Fai opens her eyes a little in response to feeling her hands being grabbed and she looks up at him. None of them say anything to each other and they both look into each other's eyes for a few seconds. Fai's cheeks turn a little red and she lets loose a small chuckle while Mint's entire face is redder than a tamato berry. She speaks softly due to just waking up. "...what are you doing…?"

He jerks back slightly in response and lets her hands go, quickly putting his paws behind his back and looking around quickly. She looks at where she ended up and then realizes what's going on. She yawns and then talks. "...oh… I must've fallen asleep on the couch with you last night. I guess at some point I shifted position or something and ended up on or next to you." she then thinks about what he was doing for a moment. "Oh, were you trying to push me off so you could get up?"

He's shaking ever so slightly due to how nervous he is but he manages to nod 'yes' quickly. She stands up off of him and takes a few steps back before sitting down, still facing him. She yawns again and stretches out before speaking. "You know… your fur is really warm and comfy. I'm surprised you don't have other Pokemon swarming around you when it's cold out. I envy you, such warm fur would make mornings like this much more tolerable."

Mint sighs deeply, his face slowly begins to return to its normal color and he stands up off the couch, then goes over to the window on the right side of the room and takes a look outside. Just as it was predicted, there's snow all over the place, on the ground, the street, the cars, and even some of the buildings too. He smiles at this, snow always makes him happy. Fai comes over to see the snow as well and when she sees that everything is covered, she groans lowly, annoyed that she'll have to shovel it to clear a path to her apartment. "Another snowstorm, another hour of shoveling snow for me… well, the winter is pretty much here so I'm not gonna complain." she looks at him. "I don't know how well you love or hate the snow, but I would appreciate having some help clearing it away from the apartment."

Mint nods. "S-sure… I love the s-snow anyway." he's still very nervous over the whole situation from before and she can clearly see this.

Fai puts up her right hand and pinches his nose for a split second. "You need to loosen up! I told you yesterday, if you can't speak in proper sentences with me, I'm gonna zap you! That situation we got in a few minutes ago is completely innocent, so c'mon, don't worry about it anymore!" she then starts walking towards the front door. "Don't stay in for too long, I'm gonna start soon." She then opens the door and the cold air rushes in, causing her to shiver a little. "Woooo! Now that's fucking cold!" she walks outside and closes the door behind her.

Mint continues to look outside for a few more minutes, thinking about Fai and how she's done quite a lot for him already. "_She's done so much for me already, and she said she's gonna help me out as much as she can… This isn't fair, I have to do something for her… shoveling snow isn't gonna cut it, but what could I do to repay her for all that she's done?_" he thinks to himself. He wants to give back, he doesn't want to seem like he's using her, that'd be not just wrong, but extremely selfish as well and that's not the Pokemon he was raised to be. The thought of how he was raised makes him remember his parents and he shudders. Once again, he's reminded of the life he left behind and it bites him yet again.

He walks away from the window and goes over to the front door, placing his left paw on the knob and turning it to open the passage into the outside world blanketed with snow. Fai is standing on the overhang due to the snow making her feet cold. She brushed some of it away but there's still a lot left over. He closes the door behind him and she calls out to him. "Hey Mint! Up here!"

He looks up at the overhang and sees her. "I tried to clear as much snow as I could but it's soo cold out here and my feet got cold much faster than I thought they would. I don't want to burden you, but could you see if you can clear some of it away? I'll join up with you once my feet aren't cold anymore."

He nods and walks down the steps leading to her apartment and jumps off the 4th step from the top and lands in the snow. It almost comes up to his scarf, which would measure in at about a foot of snow in total. This is nothing to him, he smirks and prepares to do one of the few things he's a master at doing: clearing snow away. He's done it countless times before and developed a technique that will enable him to clear all of it away with little to no effort. He turns his head to look at Fai. "W-watch this!" he then turns back to the snow.

Fai watches, curious as to what he's about to do. Mint puts his paws out and positions his feet to be roughly perpendicular to where his shoulders would be. He then takes a deep breath and while using the move 'Tail Slap' he begins to spin around rapidly. The snow around him is whipped up into the air and interestingly, it begins to revolve around him as he spins. He moves forwards and a massive snow cloud is formed. He uses the fluffs on his head as a means of creating a sort of vacuum and his tail disturbs the snow and further develops this vacuum, throwing the snow into the air as he spins rapidly. He's spinning so fast in fact that he looks like a blur and nothing more. The giant vortex of snow wraps around him and as he moves forward, the entire path to Fai's apartment begins to become crystal clear. A few minutes of this snow vortex and the entire path is open, but Mint still has to deposit the snow somewhere and as he ends up on the sidewalk, he stops spinning and all the snow that wrapped around him loses lift and falls on top of him. Fai can't believe what she just saw, he turned into a tornado of snow and completely cleared it all in record time. Her eyes are wide in disbelief and shock, she's never seen anyone do anything like that in her life before.

Mint jumps out of the snow and comes back to her. He puts his paws on his sides. "I-I bet you've never seen anyone clean snow that f-fast before!"

"I sure haven't! That was awesome! How the hell did you learn to do that?" she says, jumping down from the overhang.

"W-well, it's something I learned a while ago. I figured out t-that if I used my 'Tail Slap' attack i-instead of trying to shovel, I could move more snow… I then l-learned that if I spun really fast, the snow would get caught in my f-fur and stuff…"

Her eyes are sparkling a little, she's extremely impressed with it. "It clearly does more than I could do with a shovel. You gotta teach me that someday!"

He chuckles and rubs the back of his head with his right paw. "W-well… you need to learn 'Tail Slap' f-first…"

Her enthusiasm drops like a rock. Emolga aren't able to learn this move, and even worse, it's exclusive to the Minccino-Cinccino species meaning that Mint would never be able to teach her how to use the attack. Her ears droop a bit knowing this. "Yeah… I don't think I can learn that… I think only Minccino and Cinccino are able to learn that move."

He shrugs and then remembers something from earlier. "O-oh y-yeah!"

Her attention is placed back on him. "What's up?"

He taps his paws together anxiously. "W-well, I was w-wondering if there's anything I-I could do for you since… since you've been h-helping me since I c-came here…"

"What're you talking about? You're already helping me! The moment you stepped through the door of my apartment you started helping me!" she says.

He's confused by what she means. "I… I have?"

She nods. "Yeah, silly! The fact that you're here right now has already helped me in a few ways. First of all, you're someone I can talk to and that also means you're keeping me company as well! Two in one shot. You also just cleared all that snow away from my home too, that's another thing. Lastly, I know you might think it's embarrassing, but the fact that you didn't throw me off of you when you woke up and found me resting on you earlier. You don't have to do anything, just keep doing what you've been doing!"

He's a bit surprised to hear this. He's been helping her without even doing anything, at least, that's what it feels like to him. She can tell that he seemed ready to help out. "Hey, don't be upset. I don't care if you give back to me at all. Nobody ever gives back what I put out to them in this city besides Scott and you so it's fine."

He shakes his head. "N-no… I don't… I-I don't wanna seem selfish."

She understands. "You're not selfish. I don't see you inside right now eating all my food and demanding for more now, are you?"

He shakes his head 'no'. Her point is proven. "See? That's my point. You haven't even asked me for anything yet."

She jumps over him, flies a short distance, and then lands on the sidewalk that's covered in snow from what Mint did earlier. "C'mon! Now that the apartment is clear, I can get to where I work and see if maybe they'll have something that you can do in the meantime until you find yourself an actual job. Any cash income is better than not having any at all!"

He walks over to her and they both start walking down the sidewalk. Unlike yesterday, there's very few cars and buses on the road, as a matter of fact there's almost nobody out at this moment in time. The streets are rather quiet and while a few horn honks and voices of people in the distance are heard, the city is quieter than usual thanks to the snow. Seems like most people and Pokemon decided to take it easy today and stay at home.

Fai takes Mint to "Cast Square" as her job is in a small business that's located there. Once again, all the "in your face" billboards, ads, neon signs, and other things enamor Mint but this time, he's a bit more prepared and is able to take it all in without going into a trance. It's still a breathtaking sight for sure, but he's able to handle it much better this time around. Unlike last time, Fai takes Mint down the sidewalk on the right hand side and after a couple blocks, she stops and points at what looks like a cozy looking restaurant. "We're here! This is where I work!"

He looks at the sign on the door. Apparently the place is called "Cafe Amour" and the neon sign in the window says "Open for business!". Mint finds this odd. "Y-you work here? D-don't humans…"

She nods. "Mhm! I serve not just humans, but Pokemon as well! I'm a waitress but with a catch: I can fly and deliver food and drink super quick." she opens the door and a little bell rings upon doing so. "Come inside, I'll show you what I mean."

Mint follows her inside and for the first time in his life, he gets to see what a cafe is like. He's heard about them from stories of travelers that've come from Castelia, but never has he ever seen one himself. It's exactly how the stories described. The place is on the smaller side but has many tables and chairs. A few tables and chairs are up against the front windows, which are the only windows the place has since it was built into a giant cluster of buildings. In the back of the room is the counter where food is ordered and the waiters and waitresses take the food and deliver it to the tables. The walls and floor are painted in a checkerboard pattern of black and white, but it looks very nice regardless. The chairs and tables are all red, which go along nicely with the aesthetic the cafe has going for it. Finally, the lighting is rather chill here, a few lamps hanging off the ceiling over some of the tables to provide a soft but tranquil atmosphere.

There's only a few humans and Pokemon here right now surprisingly. At least Mint won't have to worry about someone going up to him to try and talk. As of right now, he has no choice but to stick around with Fai while she works if this is why she brought him here. The two walk all the way to the counter and they step on the raised ground that's partially under the counter so small Pokemon can place an order. The human behind the counter turns to them and immediately recognizes her. "Fai, welcome! Another day of work for you or what?"

She puts her hand up and shakes her head. "Today's an off day. However, I wouldn't mind giving some customers their orders if they're ready."

He wipes his hands with a towel. "Well, we just finished a few orders, and even though you're not on shift, you'd be willing to hand them out? You never do that on your off days. Is there a reason…?" he then notices that Mint's there. "Oh shoot! Sorry, I didn't see you there little one…"

Mint shrugs it off, he's used to going unnoticed by others. Fai introduces him. "Okay, Tony, this is Mint, Mint, this is Tony."

Tony reaches out with his right hand to shake with Mint. While he doesn't want to come off rude, he reluctantly reaches out with his right paw to shake and they do so. It's a bit awkward but luckily, Tony doesn't comment on it. He looks back at Fai. "So, is he that one special Pokemon you're always wishing you had in your life?"

This makes Mint avert his gaze elsewhere far away from them, he pretends to ignore what he said. Fai giggles a bit. "Nah, he's really nice and stuff, but he's a Castelia newbie! I'm just helping him out until he's got himself situated comfortably somewhere. Speaking of that…" she taps him on the shoulder and he turns to look at her. "I'm gonna show you what I do for about 5 days a week. Pay attention, because if they need more help, you might be doing something similar and since it pays well, I suggest taking it."

She then goes back to Tony. "Bring out the platters and tell me which tables are waiting for their orders and what they ordered!"

Tony places the towel around his waist and goes into the back. A few seconds later he comes out with two platters that seem way too big and heavy for Fai to be able to carry. He puts them down on the counter and reads off a piece of paper. "Alright. Tables 2 and 3 ordered the coffees, while tables 5, 7, and 11 ordered the breakfast special. Go get em' girl!"

She fits her hands under the platters and lifts them with ease and carefully balances them on her shoulders. She looks at Mint. "See? This is the easiest part… the hard part is remembering the orders and where they go but that's easy for me because I've been doing this for so long." she then hops up into the air and flies over to the tables that are waiting for their orders. It takes her just under a minute to complete the delivery and she flies back over to the counter. "Done and Done! I even got a tip!" she then holds out a 500 Poke coin. She hands it over to Tony who seems pleased with her work, he also takes the platters away and places them under the counter.

"You never fail to impress me! Now, you said your friend of yours is looking for a job?" he says.

She nods. "Yep, although I don't know how well he's gonna do if I'm going to be truthful with you."

He shrugs. "We all start somewhere. So, Mint was it?" he says while looking at him.

Mint nods. Tony pulls out a piece of paper and a pencil from his back pockets. "Real quick. You have no current residence in Castelia, correct?"

He nods again. Tony continues. "What about work experience? Ever worked as a cafe waiter or a waiter for that matter?"

"N-no sir… I-I've never had a-a job b-before…" he says meekly.

Tony writes this down. "Interesting. I do need someone that could help out with running the counter on the frontend, and that would mean taking customer orders, counting money when they pay for the food and drink. I could also use someone who would be able to wipe down the tables and pick up the little garbage that customers sometimes leave behind, as well as mopping the floors and junk. I hear Cinccino folk do an extremely good job at cleaning up, so I have high expectations for you if you decide to take the job. Of course, since this is your first, I expect you to be a bit slow and stuff, so I won't expect much in that department." he then places the paper in his pocket. "Well, what do you say? Will you take it?"

Mint thinks about it for a second. While this place seems nice enough, he's never worked before in his life and doing something like this sounds like a very tall order. The cleaning bit is something he's a master at thankfully, but everything else makes him a bit nervous. He'll have to face customers eye-to-eye and be confident. Self-confidence… Something he doesn't have much of. However, if he's gonna be living here, he's gotta make money like Fai said. "_It's not like I really have too much of a choice. I don't know if there's any other job in this city that would be easily offered to me like this, and this place seems quiet enough…_" he thinks.

He looks Tony in the eye and nods. "I-I'll take it… I'll t-try my best sir…" he says lowly.

Tony laughs for a couple of seconds then holds his hand out again. "Welcome aboard then!"

Mint extends his right paw again, not as nervous as before, but still quite nervous. "T-thank y-you…" he barely mutters out as they shake with each other.

Fai is pleased with this. "Wow, that's awesome, Mint! You've got a job now and soon enough, you'll be able to get your own place with your own things and stuff!" she turns to tony and speaks with a happy tone. "Thanks again Tony, I'll see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow Fai!" he then turns back to Mint. "By the way, you'll be starting tomorrow since Fai has her shift. Since you two seem to be pretty good with each other, I'd rather you have someone who you're comfortable with working alongside you rather than you being alone. Something just tells me you're a tad bit more anxious than the average newcomer that walks through my door."

Mint stays silent, he's a bit embarrassed to hear this. "_A-am I really t-that nervous and anxious? H-how does he know all of this…?_" he thinks to himself as he nods in agreement to what he'll be doing tomorrow.

He waves goodbye to Tony, and him and Fai leave the cafe together. She's quite excited for him to have a job so quickly, and not only that, to be working in the same place she works in too. Talk about being lucky. This is only the first step towards his "New Life" that he's had pictured in his head for all this time, but once again, even as good things happen to him en masse, he can't help but have that doubtful feeling creeping up behind him with every event. He still can't understand why this feeling appears and as they walk back to Fai's apartment, Mint tries his best to focus more on what would happen tomorrow. He finally got a job and pretty soon like she said, he'll be able to have his own place, yet, that doubtful feeling...

* * *

**PD: ALLLRIGHT! Mint's got a job now, and he's working alongside his partner in crime (hehe) Fai! What could possibly go wrong now!? Absolutely nothing I hope... But for real, that doubtful feeling... something's still off despite all of the wonderful things that's happening to him yet he can't figure out why... Keep reading and eventually you'll find out! In the meantime, feedback is appreciated. Don't be shy to leave your thoughts, but nothing overtly critical please! Anyway, seeya in the next chapter!**


	17. We're Finding Mint No Matter What!

**We're Finding Mint No Matter What It Takes**

Mint and Fai walk along the sidewalk. Fai is pretty excited for Mint, he's going to be working alongside her. Mint, however, isn't as excited. He's nervous and worried, he doesn't want to mess up on his first day tomorrow and come off as an unreliable Pokemon to that human who hired him. Despite this, he's happy deep down, at least he's getting closer to fulfilling his goal of having a completely brand new life.

As they walk down the sidewalk, Fai starts to skip happily. Mint watches her and this reminds him of how he used to do this a lot when he was younger. It actually turned into a habit where he'd start skipping as he walked but he wouldn't notice that he's doing it. He eventually broke this habit, but seeing this makes him remember how bad it was. He chuckles at the thought initially, but then remembers that his parents had a big hand in helping him break that habit… his parents… here it goes again, thoughts of what he left behind begin to pop up and bite him in the butt.

He tries to ignore them and focus on what's lying ahead of him. He looks to his right and can see the "Royal Unova" off in the distance cruising along with a few other ships. The Skyarrow Bridge is also visible too and looking beyond that, Pinwheel Forest. His gaze stops there and he starts to stare longingly at it. Fai notices that he isn't next to her and stops. She turns around and calls out to him. "Hey! Why'd you stop?"

He doesn't answer her and instead keeps staring off at Pinwheel Forest. His left paw slowly rises up and grabs the pendant that's around his neck. He slowly holds it up to where he's looking and then moves it slightly over to the left to line up with the forest. The pendant glows and sparkles faintly, not because of everything that's happened, but for some other reason. He takes a mental note of this and questions it. "_I'm not in the best of moods, so why is the pendant glowing? That place is nothing but a shadow of my real life after all…_" he says to himself quietly.

Fai comes over to him. "Hey, are you okay? What're you looking at?"

He looks over at her and drops the pendant. He sighs silently. "I-it's n-nothing…"

"Nothing? It definitely didn't look like nothing to me." she then looks down at his scarf where the pendant sits. "Where'd you get something like that?" she goes to touch it with her right hand but Mint's very fast and his left paw comes up and grabs ahold of it before she can.

His face becomes covered by a dark shadow and Fai looks up at him. She doesn't know what to say now but she doesn't like the shadow over his face. He speaks up, his voice a bit breath filled and quiet. "This pendant… it was… a g-gift…"

"A gift?"

"Y-yeah… but also a b-blessing…" he says, as he remembers what elder Naomi had told him when she gave it to him.

"_Whenever I got upset, I always looked at this pendant and thought about all the wonderful things that are in this world, all the good things I've got… Remember all the good things in your life… they outweigh all the bad…_"

He speaks under his breath. "_But if that's the case, Naomi, then why do I keep getting reminded of the terrible past…? Is there something that I've left behind that I have to go back and recover? Why do I doubt coming here? Why do all the good things now bring back memories and thoughts of the life I hated and ran away from?_" questions that he says but remain unanswered and lost to the wind. The pendant stops sparkling and shining upon him saying this.

Fai notices. "Hey, it stopped glowing, are you sure this was just a gift and nothing more?"

He doesn't want to tell her. He can't, it hurts him too much to think about it and trying to tell this to someone he doesn't quite fully trust yet can only end up hurting him in the long run. He looks down. "Don't worry about it…"

She looks at him, concerned about whatever it is. She knows he's hiding something, she knew it from the moment he stepped foot into her apartment. Like she said, she's not gonna be able to make him talk but eventually he'll open up. She can only think about what it is that's bothering him and hope that it gets better. She pats him on the back gently a couple of times. "Hey, I don't know what it was that you were looking at or what that pendant means to you, but if it's making you upset, maybe you should focus on something else…"

The shadow on his face lightens up a bit. "Y-yeah…" he holds his scarf with his left paw. "I-I'm sorry Fai… it's j-just… stuff I don't w-want to remember." he looks at the ground to his right to avoid seeing her. He adjusts the scarf and takes a deep breath. "Let's go back t-to your apartment."

He turns and starts walking. She watches as he goes past her and looks in the direction of the forest but isn't too sure of what he was looking at. She doesn't stay long and runs after him. They continue to walk along the path, silence between the two of them. Fai is genuinely concerned about Mint, she wants to know what made him suddenly act all weird but since she knows she won't be able to get him to talk, she decides to stay silent. It stays like this all the way to her apartment and even when they both go inside, not a single word is spoken between the two. Mint feels that something's wrong, but he still can't understand what it is.

* * *

Back in Pinwheel Forest, two familiar Minccino, Emilia and Ross, have made it back from the hospital. Ross' injuries had healed up rather quickly but he's been advised to stay away from doing any strenuous physical activity involving the arms. The time they've spent in the hospital together is fatal, and if they knew about what happened with Mint, perhaps they could've done something to change his fate, but instead of coming back to a happy den guarded by their son, they arrive to an empty den. All their belongings are there, but Mint is nowhere to be found. They part the drapes away and immediately notice that he's nowhere within.

Ross turns to Emilia. "Shouldn't he be home? Where did he go?"

She shrugs. "I don't know, perhaps he went to gather berries or do some fishing."

This is proven false as the fishing supplies in the back of the den are there and haven't been touched in over 3 days. Ross and Emilia walk into the den and look around. Nobody broke in and everything seems to be in order, except for one small thing that Ross takes note of. He walks over to the beds and notices that one of them is larger than the others and has an odd coat of oil spread out over it. He glides his right paw over it and some of the oil gets on it. He raises an eyebrow and takes a small sniff to identify it. "Oil…? What's going on here?"

Emilia goes over to him. "What's wrong?"

He shows her the oil on his right paw. "This… If I'm not mistaken, this is Mint's bed, but why is there a coat of oil all over it?"

She thinks about this for a moment but can't come up with anything to possibly explain it. This worries both of them. Something clearly isn't right and with Mint's whereabouts currently unknown to them, they're worried that something could've happened to him while they were absent. Ross' voice gets low and threatening. "If that scumbag and his bitch of a daughter did anything to my precious son, I'm going to make sure he's dead where he stands, and this time, I won't lose."

Emilia places her right paw on his left shoulder. "Ross… you just got out of the-"

He cuts her off. "I don't give a shit about what I just got out of! Our son is nowhere to be found in this den, his scent isn't in this oil, and there's nothing here that could tell us where he went! If those pieces of shit hurt him or threw him out of the colony, every single one of them is going to get it, starting with the scumbag fatass himself!" He means business. After Mint was brought to them in a wounded and pained state from his fight with Patricia, Ross can't deal with finding or hearing about him being hurt again, or worse.

He wipes the oil off his paw onto the ground and begins walking towards the drapes. "We're gonna go ask our _friends_ if they've seen him lately. If they don't give me an answer, then we simply move to the next person until someone gives us something to work with on where he is, because I know for a FACT that Mint wouldn't leave the den without good reason. If he's out there in this forest, we have to find a way to get him and make sure he's safe, he's the only son we've got and I'm not gonna let him die!"

Emilia understands his concern, but she doesn't like the fact that he's getting all riled up over this. She knows how protective of the family he can get, but only just being released from the hospital today, it's better if he doesn't do something that he'll regret. She quickly thinks up a different idea and proposes it to him. "How about you stay here instead? I'll go into the colony and ask around to see if anyone knows where he is. It's better than you getting into another fight while you're still recovering from the last one."

This calms him down. "That's fine. If he does return, I'll bring him along and we'll find you. Hopefully someone can tell us where he is, but it would be better if he comes back by himself." He walks over to the table and takes a seat where he usually sits, trying to calm himself down further. "I'll be fine, I just need a little bit to calm down. Go, the more time you waste here, the less likely we'll find out where he is."

She nods and parts the drapes away, taking off towards the main colony on all fours through the snow. A few minutes of running and she arrives, a little bit out of breath though. She ignores it and walks into the main colony, luckily for her it seems that almost everyone is awake and this would allow her to ask all of them. One of them has to know where Mint is, even if they all hate him. She walks through the snow and goes for the first Minccino she sees. The following ordeal takes place. She asks if they've seen Mint at any point during the day, and the answer is no.

This cycle happens for the next 112 Minccino she asks. Not a single one of them says that they've seen Mint. The last 5 Minccino remaining are Brian, Wesley, Sean, Rachel, and Patricia. Emilia dreads asking Brian if he saw Mint, he might think that she's blaming him for Mint's sudden disappearance and this could cause more problems, problems that nobody needs right now. As for the other 4, she doesn't trust they'll give an honest answer and instead, lead her on a Swanna chase that will end with her not finding him and only wasting her time in the process. She doesn't have a choice not to ask though, they could know of Mint's whereabouts and not asking isn't going to help her at all. She walks up to Brian's den and while a bit nervous, she knocks on the door a few times using her right paw.

Almost a minute goes by and Brian opens the door. When he sees who it is, he makes a sound of disgust before asking her. "What do you want?"

She takes a deep breath and prepares herself for anything. "I know we're not on the best terms, but Mint's gone missing and I was wondering if, by any chance, you know where he is?"

He smirks. "Mint's gone missing? Good for him, I hope the vicious Pokemon that everyone talks about every few nights eat him alive, they'll be doing us all a favor, including you and Ross."

His sarcastic comment is met by her attitude. "And I thought you had some decency to help me out! That's my child for crying out loud! If it was your child, would you want me to say something as horrid and terrible as that!?"

He laughs for a few seconds, then responds. "Honey… my child isn't stupid. She wouldn't go outside the boundaries of our colony unless accompanied by her friends or me. It's not my fault Ross has a big head and an even bigger ego, trying to be something he's not. It's his fault that Mint is gone."

Her eyes become intense and she frowns, her tone becoming more angry with him. "Look, I asked a question and you haven't given me an answer. Is my fucking child somewhere in Pinwheel Forest, or not!?" she yells in his face, making him back away a little bit.

"Geez… can you not spit in my face? I just washed off about an hour ago." he says, completely ignoring the question.

She kicks snow at him which reveals some dirt and then she kicks it on him, dirtying his feet and part of his lower body. This pisses him off and he gives her a death stare. "Do that again and you won't be finding that waste of cells for a child."

She gets right up in his face and screams as loud as she can at him. "THEN TELL ME WHERE MY FUCKING CHILD IS!"

He turns away, his ears ringing a little, but he answers the question. "I don't fucking know. I haven't seen him since the incident I had with your mate. Patricia told me that she and her friends think he evolved into a Cinccino somehow. I don't know how the fuck he managed to do it, but he must've found a shiny stone. Want proof? My daughter gave me this thing…" he goes into his den and from a table, he grabs the used stone that was found a couple days ago. "I know you've seen a shiny stone before because the elder before Naomi gave it to her and we all saw what happened. The damn thing lost its energy and the yellow star pattern inside disappeared when she used it."

He hands it over to her and she looks at it for a few seconds. She becomes very concerned, if this is true, then he could've lost his mind from the drastic change and for all she knows, he could be dead somewhere because he couldn't figure out how to deal with it. She grips the stone tightly and looks back up at him. He shrugs. "That's the best lead I have. I don't know where he fucking went or what the hell happened to him. He could be alive and well somewhere, or he could now be classified as a pile of literal shit if something got to him and killed him. Are you happy? Now get out of my den."

She walks away from the door, stone still in hand and he closes it. Her yelling from before has attracted the attention of a few Minccino and Mint's gang of bullies. Patricia speaks up since she's the one that found the stone. "I found that if you didn't know."

This makes Emilia turn around to face her. She continues. "We went to go find him with the intention of beating him up, but he wasn't anywhere in the forest. We looked all over, the beach, the Cottonee and Sewaddle colonies, the elder's den, even your den as well. We spent the last 2 days looking and we haven't found anything…"

This further concerns Emilia, but it also makes her upset. She speaks quietly and with a slightly sad tone. "Not even the 4 of you could locate him… where'd he go…?"

Patricia looks down at the ground. "Nobody knows what happened to him. My father told you that we think he might've evolved, and the stone proves that someone used it. Everyone else in the colony is still a Minccino, and you and your mate have been out of the colony so it's impossible that one of you used it, and since Mint's the only one that's gone missing…" she doesn't want to continue. Despite having hated him for so long, his sudden disappearance has made her realize just how different things are without him.

Emilia looks down at the stone again and her grip on it tightens. She shakes with anger and addresses not just her, but the entire gang with a furious tone. "It's because of you 4…. And everyone else who insulted him… if he wasn't belittled for what he was, he would still be here right now. All of you made him self-conscious of any little thing that happened to him. His evolution scared him and because he knew all of you would have something _great_ to say about it, he ran away to avoid it all." her grip continues to tighten and the stone starts to crack, the sound being heard by all 4 of them, scaring them quite a bit.

She looks up at all of them. "You 4 are going to help me and my mate look for him. I don't fucking care what it takes. You caused this mess, and you're going to fix it, understand?" her face looks as if she's about to go crazy and her tone is threatening, serious, and carries a mother's wrath with it. The eyes of these 4 Minccino have become so small that the whites of their eyes are all visible. They reek of fear and they all shake their heads quickly to avoid whatever fury Emilia has cooking inside of her.

Emilia turns to the crowd that gathered around due to her yelling and she addresses them as well. "If all of you think you're getting out of it that easily, you're wrong… EVERYONE is gonna help me and my mate find our son. Anyone who dares object will end up like… this… stone…!" she grunts and with all of her might, shatters the stone with just her paw. The pieces fly all over and land on the ground near her, some of it bouncing off her chest and face but she doesn't flinch from it.

Everyone stares at her in utter fear. She's not fucking around. They all thought Ross was a force to be reckoned with, but Emilia, she's on a whole different level. She looks across the entire colony. Like she said, every single Minccino in this colony is going to help find Mint. It doesn't matter what it takes, how long it takes, or whose lives it takes, they're going to find them whether they're willing to help or not. She will not let the greatest part of her life be taken away from her because he was too mortified from his evolution and didn't have anyone to fall back on to push him forward.

Now that everyone knows, her work here is pretty much done. She dusts her hands off and the remaining pieces of the stone fall on the ground in front of her. "We start looking in exactly 3 hours, the top of the day, also known as "noon" if you've never been properly educated. Everyone meets at the fountain plaza and waits by the fountain. I'll give the orders on where to search and we all look. Once we scrape through every blade of grass, each grain of sand, every den and house, and overturn all the rocks in this forest, we expand our search out to the places we've never gone to before, and if you're too scared, just know that I don't expect all of us to come back if we do find him." she shrugs. "Heh, even then, if we don't find him, I still don't expect all of us to make it back."

She starts walking back towards her home. Her heart is set ablaze and she won't stop at anything to find her son. Little does she know that they'll never find him if they only stay within the forest, but they don't have any leads on him, so how _could _they know. After about 10 minutes of walking, she arrives back at the den. She parts the drapes away and walks in, Ross immediately stands up from the table.

"Any luck?" he says, hoping for something.

She shakes her head. "Nope, but I've got something even better."

He tilts his head, curious as to what it is. She explains. "I was told by Brian's daughter that quite a few things happened here while we were gone. First of all, I think Mint found a **Shiny Stone** and might've accidentally evolved by coming into physical contact with it. This is confirmed true because they found a shiny stone that looks to have been recently used. I don't have it anymore because I used it to prove a point but the fact is that when it has its energy, it still shines and the yellow star pattern can be seen in the center. This stone was dull and didn't have the pattern, so it had to be used at some point. Since nobody else is a Cinccino in the colony, Mint is the only one that is suspect and since he's gone, I further believe that he evolved."

Ross nods. "That's a problem in its own right."

She continues. "Exactly, which leads me into my second thing, I think he ran away to avoid being bullied and insulted over the change. Think about it, he's been ridiculed and put down his whole life and turning into something like that would be nothing short of a target to be bullied about. Wouldn't you want to run away and hide in a place that won't result in you getting hurt over the Pokemon that you've turned into?"

"Makes sense. It sounds like something Mint would do since he broke into Naomi's den many times in the past when he was upset over being bullied." Ross says, thinking about where he could've gone.

Emilia smiles. "Now, the last thing, I've gotten the entire colony to agree to help us look for Mint. Don't worry about Brian or the others, they're all under my control and if anyone steps out of line, I'll make sure they don't do it again. We're gonna turn this forest upside down to find him, and if that's not enough, we'll be going further beyond and exploring the "forbidden" parts of the forest, even if some of them will die. I don't care what we have to do, but we're finding him no matter what."

Ross likes the plan, but he doesn't like the part where some of them could die. "Isn't the point of a search and rescue to make sure nobody gets hurt or dies? Shouldn't we at least prepare to explore the forbidden parts if it comes down to it?"

She nods. "Yeah, but we'll worry about that bridge when we get to it, for now, we have about 3 hours until we start the search. We'll start at the beach and move east until we reach the road that cuts through the center of the forest." she then mutters to herself. "_I just hope we find him before then, I really don't want to go past that road… hell knows what's on that side of the forest._"

The plan is set and it's only a matter of time before they all start looking. Ross and Emilia can only pray that Mint is safe and that they'll find him sooner than they think. Their hearts cry out to him, but it goes unanswered for now…

* * *

**PD: Mint's parents have come back safe and sound but their son is missing. The search begins, but if only they knew where he went... anyway, seeya in the next chapter!**


	18. Fai's Story

**Fai's Story**

The afternoon sun beats down on snow covered Castelia City. The fresh snow pack reflects the strong light back up, making it difficult to keep one's eyes open. Without a single cloud in the sky, the azure blue world above is on full display for anyone to see. The temperatures have barely risen above the single digits ever since the morning, only scratching 11 degrees for one of the coldest days on record in many years. The cold, however, doesn't bother all the denizens of Castelia, and as the day progresses, more and more people and Pokemon start to come out and continue their daily lives, walking, talking, driving, working, playing, eating, you name it, it's being done right now.

For two Pokemon in one apartment, Mint and Fai, there's not much for either of them to do. Fai sits on the couch in the living room, watching a drama show on TV while Mint is lying down on the bed in Fai's guest bedroom. He's in deep thought about everything that's happened over the last few days, especially the constant biting feeling of doubt. He tries to piece everything together in his head, but he can't make sense of the problem that would cause him to doubt everything that's happened.

"_I just don't understand… Castelia City is the place where I thought I'd be starting over and living a brand new life. I've got Fai by my side to help me, she got me a job working at that cafe, I'm not being bullied or put down on a daily basis nor am I at risk of being killed by someone from my own colony, and everything I could ever want or need is here. I'm finally starting to be accepted by a few people and Pokemon, some of them will even appreciate what I'm doing or will be doing for them, and pretty soon, I'll be just like everyone else. This is everything I've wanted since that day, yet, I'm constantly reminded of the forest, my parents, and the life I ran away from… it's almost like something's trying to tell me that I've made a mistake or something. Is this the pendant's doing? Is Naomi's spirit trying to tell me that I've been wrong this entire time? That can't be right, she'd understand my reasons completely, she understood why I broke into her den in the first place, so that can't be it._"

He looks up at the ceiling and grabs the pendant with his left paw to see if it's glowing but like he thought, it isn't. He puts it back down and shakes his head slightly. Like he said, he's finally getting everything he wants but the past continues to haunt him. He tries not to dwell on it for too long, but a thought comes to mind, one that he hadn't thought of. His parents told him something very interesting one day, and while it seemed at the time like it made no sense, he understands it a little more now. "_You might not understand why certain things happen in our lives. It can be as small as a recurring thought or as big as someone that's very close to you dying. There's a reason behind everything that happens, so always remember that, Mint. Nothing is without reason."_

He slams his paws on the bed, it makes a 'thud' sound. "_If that's true, then what's the reason for me doubting everything that's happening so far!? I've got everything I need, there shouldn't be any doubts!_" he thinks to himself as the thought angers him.

From the living room, Fai calls out to him. "Mint, was that you that made that sound?"

"Y-yeah… that was m-me…" he says, trying his best not to sound upset.

"Alright, I was just asking because one time someone tried to break in here and the sound I heard was almost exactly like the one you made."

With this, he decides to get out of the bed. It's no use lying there and thinking about something that makes no sense to him. He walks out of the room and into the living room. The sound of the TV can be heard as it's moderately loud and with his extremely good hearing, it comes in crystal clear. He looks at Fai, she's happy and lacks any worries or doubts about what she's doing. She's living the life she wants to live without anything from her past coming back to bite her or haunt her over every little good thing that happens to her. This fact bothers Mint. It just further makes him question why he keeps feeling that way.

He walks over to the couch and she notices him. She looks at him. "So you finally decided to get out of that bed huh? You were lying there for almost 2 hours, are you feeling better about whatever it was that bothered you earlier?"

He looks down. "...Not really…"

She frowns. "Why not?"

He closes his eyes and turns his head away, staying silent for a few seconds before speaking up. "...W-what…. What made you come to Castelia, and d-do you ever doubt your c-choices that lead to t-that decision?"

This is a question she was not prepared to hear. She looks down at her feet for a moment. She lets loose a weak chuckle before looking back at him. She speaks, but her voice is much different this time, it sounds serious and ever so slightly sad. "You want to know why I came to Castelia and if I ever regret making the decision?"

He nods slowly, eyes still closed. He wants to know it all, perhaps hearing what she has to say might help him understand his own feelings. She sighs. "It's a very long story, and one that I usually don't tell to most Pokemon I meet. My past was a troubled one, and because of that, I try to forget about the bad times and only remember the good but even then it sometimes comes back from time to time and ruins my mood and sometimes even an entire day."

He listens intently. She breaks out into her story. "9 years ago, I said I arrived in Castelia city. There's much more to it. Before that day, I had been living in a toxic environment that I so desperately wanted to escape from but just wasn't in the best shape to do so. For most of my life, I lived in a colony of Pokemon that I wasn't born into natively."

This surprises Mint, he wasn't expecting that last part. His eyes open and he looks at her, curious as to what she means by that. She continues. "I was an orphan. My true parents… I never saw them in my life before, nor will I probably ever see them, but from what I was told by my adoptive parents, they found me just barely clinging to life as a baby. They took me in and nursed me back to health and kept me. I don't remember much as a baby, but I do remember that when I was around 6 or 7, my adoptive parents began having terrible issues of their own. My father began to take up some weird substance that I would learn to be alcohol and he drank it in large quantities. He would get violent, start yelling and screaming at everyone in the den we lived in. I got the brunt of it most of the time. If he looked at you while like this, it was almost guaranteed that he was gonna come over and start spitting in your face."

A tear drops from her eyes but she keeps going strong. "It got worse as time went on. He started to attack without warning and would beat anyone that got in his path or disagreed with him. If you called him out for his problem with alcohol, he'd crush your face in and nearly kill you. It happened a few times with some of the members of the colony we were in. I got beat many times by him and they only got worse and worse as I started to avoid going home. If I dared walk into the den late at night, I'd get the beating of my life. It doesn't just stop there… my adoptive mother… she would get into daily arguments with him over the most trivial of things for hours on end. The many nights I spent sleepless and out in the darkness of the night just to hopefully see the next day and avoid a beating." a few more tears drop from her eyes.

"When I turned 8, he started going out and bringing home random female Pokemon from around the area and used them for something. I remember moans and screams coming from his room. I didn't like it so I decided to tell my mother and when she saw what was happening, they both got into a massive fight, ending with both of them badly hurt. The next morning, my father came after me because he somehow knew I was the one that ratted him out and…" she grabs part of her right wing. "...he beat me down harder than ever before. I still have the scar from when he cut my wing open." she hops off the couch and goes over to him to show him.

True to her word, there's a scar across her right wing, it's faded away mostly, but some of it is still there. He can't imagine the pain she must've felt when that happened. She has tears in her eyes. "It was that day that made me want to run away, but I couldn't. If I ran away earlier in the day, I could've flown off without problems, but with a wounded wing, there was no way I could run. For the whole year, I tried my best to avoid getting beat so it could heal, but even then, I couldn't really avoid it all the time. Being thrown around, hit with attacks more powerful than anything I could've imagined, it hurt so much… But then, I woke up one day near the end of the year and saw that my wing was almost fully healed. My time came and I knew I could leave, but even then, I couldn't because my father started realizing what I was planning on doing and did his best to stop me from leaving."

She begins to lighten up a little. "Almost another year of hell and that fateful night… I knew it would be the one… the stars were twinkling and there was a new moon in the sky. Darkness was on my side and so was the distraction of another female Pokemon to entice my father into using her. While they did it, I took as much as I possibly could, food, drink, and the little money we had and I flew off, heading towards Castelia City as I heard stories about many Pokemon getting new beginnings there and I wanted to start all over and forget about the terrible life I left behind."

She takes a deep breath. "And so, I met Scott and you know how the rest goes. We're here now and I have to say, there's nothing I'd give to go back to that shithole. I loved my adoptive mother, but my father, I hope someone got him the help he needed. If not, then that's too bad. They're not my problem now and after all, it was much better to come here then risk having my wings cut off my body, it was bad enough that one was cut open."

He thinks about it for a moment. "...you have no r-regrets about leaving?"

She nods. "Yup! I do sometimes wish I could find out what happened to them after all these years, but at the same time, I don't know if they'll remember me, especially my drunk ass father. It's a shame too, they took good care of me for a while until that shit started to happen. I don't know how he acquired the alcohol, but apparently, where ever he was getting it from seemed to have an endless supply. I do regret not being able to help him when it first started but I was a child, what good could I do as a child in that situation?" she shakes her head a little and then shrugs. "It's all in the past now and it doesn't really matter that much to me anymore because I'm here now and life is good."

Mint now knows that Fai had a past that's just as troubled as his, if not, even worse. She chuckles. "For all I know, you could've had something happen that's much worse than what I lived through and that could be your reason for coming to Castelia. I've told you my true story, now I hope that sometime soon you'll tell me your story, it isn't right if you know mine but I don't know yours."

He frowns a little. "M-maybe…" It's only been a day with her and he still isn't 100% sure he can entrust her with his life story. Her life was much worse than his before she came here, and yet, she managed to put it past her and live without any major regrets. He's torn between the past, present, and future. As it stands, going back to living in the past will let him go home, but warrants putting himself in danger and having to deal with the constant bullying and down talking that he's learned to deal with. Living in the future, however, will lead him to have a place in Castelia City along with a job, plus all of the good things that've happened to him so far, but the constant reminders of his past may eventually drive him nuts and since he still has many things to check out in Castelia, the unfamiliar city could be very dangerous to him. If he lives in the current time though, he'll be looking at both sides, being unable to pick which one to stick with. This makes him want to curl up and sleep it off with the hopes that tomorrow will be a much better day. He's got his first day of work after all, and perhaps focusing on his next task will get his mind off his doubts and feelings.

* * *

**PD: A somewhat shorter chapter revealing a bit of Fai's backstory. How curious, both Mint and Fai have troubled pasts... Seeya in the next chapter!**


	19. Streetside Brawl

**PD: Just a heads up, this chapter is a bit longer than usual and has an optional theme: Pokemon Black 2 wild battle theme. When you see a "*" the theme is played and when you see "**" it's stopped. I don't own this song by the way.**

* * *

**Streetside Brawl**

With not much to do around Fai's apartment, Mint and Fai have quite the heavy spell of boredom on the brain, and even though the TV displays a nice, entertaining comedy show, neither of them find it entertaining or funny one bit. Seems the whole mood of the apartment is just dull and boring as of right now. The sun has moved a fair bit towards the west and hangs a bit lower in the sky than before. With the winter solstice on the doorstep, time flies quickly and the sun rises and sets in the blink of an eye. Of course, this is only how it feels and the reality of it is the Unova region gets about 9 hours of sunlight on that day, so the closer it gets, the less daylight there is.

Does it stop the millions of people and Pokemon that live in Castelia City, no, they just keep going about their daily business as usual. Speaking of daily business, the boredom in the apartment is so high that Fai turns to Mint and proposes an idea. "I'm bored as fuck, wanna go out and find some trouble?"

He isn't quite sure of what she means by that and tilts his head curiously. She explains. "I don't mean actual trouble, I just wanna get out of here and do something that doesn't involve sitting down on a couch and watching humans fail to make me laugh through a screen."

He understands what she means now and nods. It does sound like a good idea to leave the apartment. Being cooped up for too long gets to you, and this is no exception, especially when you're bored to hell. Fai hops off the couch and runs off to her bedroom while Mint hops off and stretches himself out. After hearing about her story and thinking about it for a short while, he's come to the conclusion that despite the shit show life she's had, she managed to bounce back with Scott's help and has a good thing going for her. The story doesn't really help him however, he's still lost on his own issues and he was hoping her story would possibly make something go off in his head and make him understand why he's feeling the way he's feeling. He finally drops it, he's been dawdling on it for over 3 hours now and nothing's changed.

Fai comes out of her bedroom wearing a cute, little backpack on her back. He finds this odd, but then again, he IS wearing a pendant around his neck. She adjusts the straps and then winks. "Alright! You ready to go out and find some trouble?"

He nods and they both head to the front door. Mint goes for the knob with his left paw and so does Fai with her right hand and they both end up touching each other. He doesn't care but she blushes ever so slightly at this and takes ahold of his paw gently. He turns the doorknob and the door opens but because Fai is holding his paw, he doesn't go out just yet. He turns to her and motions for her to go first. She smiles and does so and as she goes through the doorway, he follows her. They walk down the steps together and make a right once they reach the sidewalk, heading towards the shopping district.

Mint's cheeks are a little red even though he's held hands with Fai 3 times in total, even then, he's super embarrassed about it. Fai looks at him and notices this. She squeezes his paw a little and he jumps ever so slightly. She finds this reaction somewhat cute, but she doesn't like how nervous he is once again. She speaks up. "You okay? Your cheeks are all red."

Her pointing it out makes his cheeks get redder and he averts his gaze to the oceanside, staying quiet. Her tone gets a little higher and she decides to tease him a bit. "Aww c'mon! You're embarrassed to hold hands with me?"

He stays silent and continues to look the opposite way from her. She giggles, realizing that it's true. "No way, you're totally embarrassed to hold hands with me!" she then teases him a in cutesy voice. "Aww, Mint is embarrassed to hold hands with a girl! How cute!"

Her teasing is annoying, but at least it's not hurtful. He smirks for a very brief moment and a quiet chuckle comes out from him. They continue to walk down the street, hand in hand. They take a right and enter the shopping district. Thanks to all the snow from last night, there isn't a massive crowd here and they're able to see it in all of its glory. They both take a look at all the stores that are available. Fai points one of them out. "You see that store all the way down there? I shop there all the time! Best place to buy food and stuff in the whole city, yet some Pokemon don't believe me until they realize they're getting ripped off at the shitty food store down the block."

He tries to read the sign for the store but it's a bit too far away for him. The thought of food does sound nice, the last time he ate was when he evolved and he didn't really eat that much because he was too worried about what would happen and how he would deal with it the next day. He decides to ask. A-are we gonna get food?"

"If you're good, perhaps we will…" she teases. He doesn't take too kindly to this and unknowingly gives her a rather nasty look which makes her instantly change her attitude. "I-I'm just kidding! Why do you think I asked if you wanted to go out and find trouble?"

His expression lightens up. "Good… I-I haven't had anything s-since I came here…"

She becomes a bit confused. "Huh? You haven't had anything at all?"

He nods. "I w-wasn't that hungry… I just r-ran over here…" he stops, watching what he says as to not raise her suspicion since revealing too much might make her ask for more.

She feels bad for him. "That's terrible! You must be starving then, I can only imagine how that feels!"

"_I-it's fine… I-I'm used to it a-anyway…_" he mutters under his breath, luckily, she doesn't hear him and instead wants to get shopping.

"We're not gonna be able to get anything unless we go in the store, so lets-" her voice is cut off by someone behind them yelling.

"HEY YOU!" their voice is gruff, deep, and sounds pissed off. Fai and Mint turn around to see who it is. "Yeah! I'm talking to you, you stupid bitch!" the Pokemon says, a Garbodor who seems quite angry at Fai for some reason.

"Oh, you again? I told you already, I can't fit that date into my schedule. I'm very busy and you should know that since I told you this 6 times already. Make that 7 since I just told you again!" she says, her tone being a bit defensive.

Behind the Garbodor walks out what can only be assumed to be his friends, two Krokorok. He crosses his arms. "But you said that you'd find a day for it! You mean to tell me in the last 2 weeks, you've had no time at all!?"

"You answered your own question! That is 100% true!" she says.

The Garbodor didn't notice it initially, but he does now, and seeing her holding hands with Mint makes him even more angry. "Oh, I SEE how it is… you don't have time for me, but the fucking scarf wearing bastard next to you, you have all the time in the world for! Holding hands? What the fuck is this, your way of telling me to piss off because I'm a fucking Poison type that gets a bad rep for what I'm made of? I never even get a chance with girls like you!"

She makes a sound of disgust. "It's not that, don't you hear what you sound like? You're a blubbering idiot! You're sooo pushy and I can't stand Pokemon like that!"

Beside all that's happening, Mint has a very bad feeling. This Garbodor and his friends don't seem like they're here for just a simple chit-chat that will end with "have a good day." He senses a bad conflict and the last time he ended up fighting anyone, he got a broken nose. He doesn't need a repeat of that or worse. A couple drops of sweat form on his head, he's nervous about how this entire thing will turn out. The Garbodor turns his attention to him and realizes that he's not a regular Cinccino and has mint-green fur. He scoffs at this. "What the fuck? You ain't no normal Cinccino! Mint-green fur? What an ugly fucking color!" he turns back to Fai. "You say this green slimeball is good enough for you but I'm not?"

A very bad insult, one that he's heard multiple times from Patricia and Rachel. The words make Mint have a frighteningly vivid relapse of that time when some of the children in the colony came over to him and started singing a humiliating song, jumping and hopping around him, paw-in-paw, circling him. "_**Mint is a stinky yucky green slimeball!**_" It causes him to twitch slightly in place a few times as the words of the children and this Garbodor echo in his mind. His paw also clenches up for a moment, squeezing Fai's hand hard.

She recoils and removes her grip. She shakes her hand a little. She'll ask him what that was about later, but for now, this Garbodor is really starting to piss her off. She yells at him, her tone and facial expression quite angry. "We're not even dating! He's new in the city and I'm showing him the ropes until he's able to find a place to stay!"

The Garbodor replies sarcastically. "You mean, use him for your own benefit and gain guilty pleasure from it while cucking out good Pokemon like me who're only looking for a simple date?" he laughs for half a second, then continues. "You teasing whore, I know your games and I've had about enough of them!" he whips his arms to his side and the two Krokorok step forward next to him.

Fai clenches her right hand into a fist. "You telling me you wanna go!? I'll fight you right here and now!" Being called a "whore" has only infuriated her even more and riled her up. She's not taking that sitting down, it hurts.

The Garbodor cockily smiles. "Your choice, but know that it's 3v2 and I've got the advantage. That disgusting green sewer rat of a Pokemon standing next to you can't help you for shit, so it might as well be a 3v1."

Mint's eyes shrink a little and the whites become visible. He gets another vivid relapse of the children singing that song, but this time, he also hears Rachel and Patricia calling him the same thing as well.

"_**Mint is a stinky icky yucky green sewer rat!**_**"**

"_**You're a fucking sewer rat! No Minccino in this colony has such a repulsive color of fur like you do, go crawl back to the sewers where you belong**_**!"**

"_**I'm surprised a filthy rodent with such an ugly fur color like you managed to survive and make it this far. Rodents tend to not live long enough to see the light of day, perhaps you should've died a long time ago too**_**."**

A very dark shadow falls over his entire face, he lowers his head a little, and the pendant around his neck grows dull. He shakes and he clenches his paws into tight fists. The insults this monster has thrown at him make him remember everything he ran away from. All the pain and suffering that he went through comes back to him in one shot and the world around him blurs a little. Everything begins to get muffled and words turn into white noise and unintelligible sounds. He smiles, not from happiness, but from how ironic it is. He never expected to hear those two very specific insults when he's so far away from home and yet, he's hit home with the bullying. He chuckles a couple of times before a few tears drop from his eyes and roll down his face. They reflect some of the sunlight and this grabs the Garbodor's attention.

He doesn't know Mint can't hear him, but he flaps his gums anyway. "Aww what's wrong? The big cry baby doesn't like the truth? If you can't handle the truth that you're a sewer rat, then why don't you just crawl back into the Castelia Sewers and stay there?"

Fai doesn't understand why he'd say Mint is crying. She looks at him and notices the dark shadow and almost nearly invisible tear streaks running down his face. She snaps back to the Garbodor. "You heartless piece of shit! Leave him out of this! He did nothing to you and doesn't deserve to be treated like that!" she clenches her teeth and her hands becomes fists. She takes up a fighting stance, ready to throw an attack at any moment.

The Garbodor spreads his arms wide. "Take the shot you bitch! Do it!" he's baiting her into a trap but she doesn't know it.

Fai takes it and takes a few steps forward. "You're gonna regret giving me that shot!" Many bolts of electricity come from her cheek pouches and a ball of electricity forms around her entire body. This move is called "Discharge" and she unleashes all of it at this Garbodor. The bolts of lightning fly at him but at the last second, one of the Krokoroks jump into the attack and takes it for him, completely negating any and all damage he would've taken. Fai has never faced a "Ground" type Pokemon in battle before and doesn't know that "Electric" type moves have no effect on them. She is taken aback by this, but thinks that the attack wasn't very effective so she tries "Discharge" once again but when it hits the Krokorok, he isn't electrified or even affected by it at all.

She growls and then yells at him. "Why aren't you getting hurt by my attack!?"

The Krokorok gives a sly smile. "Because you're a dumbass hoe and dumbass hoes can't hurt us."

She lowers her head a little, growling in frustration. The other Krokorok comes running at her from the right and she jumps into the air to avoid him and takes flight. The Garbodor takes this opportunity to grab a pretty decent sized stone from the ground and uses the move "Smack Down", throwing the stone at her with lightning speed. She sees this from the corner of her eye but it's too late and the stone hits her, causing her to be knocked out of the sky where she falls down about 30 feet in front of Mint.

The "Rock" type move hit Fai for super effective damage and while it wasn't very strong, it was much more than enough to weaken her quite a bit. She struggles to stand up slightly but manages to do so and before she can react, the Krokorok she tried to attack earlier comes up from the ground using the move "Dig" and hits her into the air. Because the move "Smack Down" makes a "Flying" type hit the ground, Fai isn't immune to ground moves for a little while and takes another super effective hit.

She flies through the air and hits the concrete head first. It hurts like hell and she lies there in a very weakened state. One more hit is enough to take her out for good. The Garbodor starts laughing loudly and this loud laughing snaps Mint back to reality. The shadow over his face disappears and the world around him comes back. He immediately notices The Krokoroks walking over to where Fai is. He can see that she's on the ground and isn't moving. He immediately pieces it together and while he was in that trance-like state, all of them started to fight. He shakes his head quickly to compose himself and goes to stop them but the Garbodor notices this and throws some of the trash on his body in the direction that Mint is running in. He abruptly stops and scrapes his feet on the concrete to avoid stepping in the filthy garbage. He looks up at the rancid fiend. "Leave Fai alone!" he yells.

The Garbodor simply waves his words off and instead warns him about what they'll do to him if he dares to interrupt. "If you get close, you'll end up just like her. Now, be a good Cinccino and worry about that garbage I threw and clean it up, trash collector."

Mint's eyes shoot wide open. He watches as the two Krokorok hold Fai up by her hands and feet. The Garbodor starts walking over to them, smiling devilishly as he looks at the somewhat incapacitated Emolga. He starts talking outloud to himself. "Oooh yess… Finally, I get to take a peak and maybe even have a little fun with you for once. You are a whore after all, and whores take it no matter what Pokemon it is they're doing it with because they find it to be fun too!"

Fai comes to and is a bit dazed but can tell what's going on. She notices the incoming monster and she yells at him weakly. "G-get away from me you creep!"

He keeps walking towards her and rubs his hands together. "I've been waiting 2 weeks for this moment… Nobody's gonna stop me and that stupid rat over there won't dare touch me otherwise he'll have to burn his own fur off." he then starts laughing as each step gets him closer and close to her.

She doesn't know what he's going to do and not only could it be dangerous, but it could be deadly and she tries to break loose from the grip of the two Krokorok. She struggles very hard, but in her weakened state, she tires out quickly. In a last ditch effort, she tries to shock them all using "Discharge" but the two Krokorok simply absorb the attack like it's nothing and all 3 of them laugh at her feeble attempt. The Garbodor even rubs it in. "You really are a stupid dumbass bitch! Don't you know that electric moves have no effect on a 'Ground' type Pokemon?"

Her eyes widen and she realizes that she has to get away from them now before this Garbodor does what he wants to do. She starts to struggle again and even begins yelling for help but the Krokoroks are fast on the draw and one of them punches her in the face and this is enough to completely knock her out. She's completely helpless and at the mercy of whatever this Garbodor is planning to do. Mint has seen all of this and despite the risk of being attacked, he runs around the garbage and goes for the Garbodor, yelling at him. "I said leave her alone!"

The Garbodor turns around and sees Mint. He stops about 15 feet in front of him and seems ready to fight but deep down, doesn't want to since he has bad memories of his last one. The Garbodor looks at his Krokoroks. "Spread her up, I want to be able to just slide right in once I finish this fucking abortion of a Pokemon." he then looks back at Mint with a cocky and confident smile. "She said to leave you out of this, but I guess you just couldn't handle being called a cry baby, huh?"

A very quick relapse of him being called a cry baby flashes in front of his eyes but he ignores it and through his clenched teeth, he angrily speaks. "I'm not gonna say it again! Leave her alone or else!"

"Or else what? What're YOU gonna do? You're a Cinccino, the only reason you exist is to clean the garbage and slop that others in this world create. You're a filthy mop, a cry baby, and a sewer rat. How about you go crawl back to the place you came from, huh? The shit and piss ridden sewers suit you much better than the city does. If you weren't here, I'd have gotten my way by now but no, you have to exist. You want to save her? Then put your dick where you balls are then." he then takes up a threatening stance, ready to fight.

Mint stays silent and once again, a dark shadow falls over his entire face. He stands there and does nothing. The Garbodor nods victoriously, giving a nasty smirk and a tone of superiority. "I thought so. All you cute Pokemon act tough up until they realize that they ain't shit. Go back home, there's garbage to be cleaned and I'm sure that someone will appreciate their maid returning."

Mint's mouth drops open and his eyes widen as well. Go back home? Everything stops with those three words. "**Go back home**." All time seems to slow to a crawl as these words infinitely echo in his mind, along with super fast relapses of his life back in the forest, but this time, he can see the Garbodor past it all, moving in for the kill to do whatever it is that he wants to do to Fai. Mint lowers his head and clenches his paws into fists tighter than ever before. "_G-go… back home? Go... back…. Home…?_" he says silently as his eyelids begin to twitch, and like that time when Mint yelled at Patricia and whacked Brian in the face, he begins to heat up and starts shaking a bit with pure, unbridled rage and fury. Not only was a nerve stuck with all those insults from earlier and with what was said to him a few moments before, but he can't stand what he allowed to have happen to Fai. "_I-I can't let him do this…! I might not trust her fully, but Fai's been a good friend and has helped me out the moment I arrived in Castelia. I won't let you…! I won't! Whatever it is that you're going to do, I'm not gonna find out what it is because…. Because…_" he says through his teeth quietly as his shaking becomes violent. The fur fluffs on his head start to turn red and glow, and so does his tail and scarf. The pendant around his neck also begins to glow an extremely bright color and begins radiating immense energy and lets loose powerful sparkles.

Mint takes a step forward, but this step is very different from a regular one because this one is audible and makes a cloud of dust appear. He yells at the Garbodor who is about to put his hands on Fai. "**I said get the fuck away from her…. Right… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!**" His scream echoes through the block, carrying a white-hot force with it and having an odd phenomenon where his voice seems to have another voice contained within that sounds lower than usual...

*****The Garbodor looks back at him and notices that his face is darkened a bit by the shadow and he seems ready to attack at any moment. He's cocky and thinks that he won't do anything and he looks back at Fai and reaches for her. Mint sees this and with lightning speed, runs at the Garbodor, then jumps up, and uses "Tail Slap", whipping his tail around and whacking him in the face with so much force that it dislocates his jaw and makes him spit out a strange, purple liquid. The attack also sends him flying into a nearby storefront, destroying the window in the process, glass falling all around him with a couple shards almost impaling him.

Mint lands on the ground and then snaps his violent gaze over to the Krokoroks. They immediately drop Fai onto the ground and run at him together. Mint jumps a few feet back and prepares to grab both of them. They run into him and he stops them dead in their tracks, only sliding back a couple of feet while holding them at bay with his paws. He grabs ahold of their hands tightly and spins them around rapidly for a few seconds, then throws them down the block away from him. Their bodies bounce off the ground a few times, getting scraped in the process.

Mint tucks his ears in, inhales much more air than he should be capable of taking in, and then lets loose a scream that's so loud that it instantly shatters all the glass storefronts on the block. The massive sound wave is his "Hyper Voice" and his roaring scream nearly destroys the eardrums of his opponents, leaving them with their ears ringing and also causing significant damage to them. They cover their ears and duck to prevent themselves from getting hit by the glass shards that were sent into the air thanks to all of the windows breaking.

The attack ends and Mint runs at the closest Krokorok. He charges up his next move which is "Focus Blast" and a blue energy orb is created in the space between his paws held by his side as he closes the distance between him and his foe. The Krokorok tries to retaliate with "Rock Tomb" and hurls 5 large boulders at Mint. He simply looks at the incoming rocks and instead of dodging, he jumps over the first one and lands on the second one, then the third, fourth, and finally, the fifth one before jumping up into the air and hurling the blue energy blast at his target with insane speed with his left paw. The attack connects and the Krokorok is absolutely decimated by the intensely powerful "Fighting" type move thanks to being weak to it. The orb explodes on contact and a massive fiery cloud of blue and black is created as it instantly defeats them, sending their body flopping into the air before hitting the ground, limp and done for.

Mint lands on the ground and the other Krokorok rushes at him from behind while using the move "Brick Break" and as he's about to land the karate chop styled move with their right hand, Mint turns around with extreme speed and counters the attack with his red-hot "Tail Slap". The collision of these two moves causes a massive outflow of wind and any loose dust and debris on the ground is blown away. They stand with their attacks locked like this for a few seconds, then the Krokorok tries to use "Low sweep" and kick Mint off balance but his reaction time is miles above any normal Pokemon and he avoids the kick, flips around in the air, and whacks them across the face with his tail.

They're sent sliding back a fair distance but Mint's attack isn't over. He lands on the ground and in a fraction of a second, closes the distance between him and his opponent, and jumps up to their face. A gleam comes off his left eye and he lands 10 more extremely quick, painful slaps on the Krokorok. He ends his last slap with significantly more force and sends them flying into the air where they slam back first into one of the buildings nearby, causing spit to fly from their mouth. They fall to the ground, completely defeated and Mint's ears pick up the sound of glass being stepped on and broken. He turns to face the direction of the sound and he sees the Garbodor from earlier wasn't defeated in one hit.

The Garbodor angrily walks towards him and as he does, he whacks his jaw back into place using his right hand and growls. He cracks his knuckles and yells at him. "You're gonna wish you decided to go back home you asshole…"

Mint responds back. "This IS my home. Who are you to tell me where my home is when you look like you belong in a dumpster? Garbage bag..."

The Garbodor punches his hands together. "I've lived in this city for much longer than you, forest boy. You ain't got shit on me, you managed to land a lucky hit but that's the only one you're gonna get!" he runs for him upon ending his sentence and prepares to use "Sludge Bomb" and throws a ball of purple sludge at Mint, but he isn't gonna take any of that and counters it out by using "Iron Tail" at the right time and as he whips his tail and cuts the attack in half, it flies past him and explodes behind him, causing absolutely no damage to him. The explosion lights up the surrounding area for a moment, but causes Mint's entire body to become blacked out except for his pendant and the areas glowing red on his body during this brief moment.

The Garbodor continues to run at him and charges up a blue orb of energy in his hands, he's trying the move "Focus Blast". When the attack is fully charged, they stop running and hurl it at him. Mint stands there watching the attack fly at him and right before it hits him, he takes his right paw and simply swats it away, deflecting it without any issues. The attack flies into a nearby building and explodes on contact, making a crater in the side. The Garbodor is dumbfounded at this and his eyes widen a little at what he just saw.

Mint wipes his nose. "**Now it's my turn**…" He crouches down for a moment, then grabs the fluffs of fur on his back and pulls them but instead of them being pulled forward, he pulls out two strange red-hot looking boomerangs made of his own fur and as he strikes a cool pose, he shouts at the Garbodor and reveals a move he just made up on the spot. "**Fluffs of fur be my power! Flufferang!**" he then throws the one in his left hand. It flies at the Garbodor with insane speed and although he tries to avoid it, his large size makes this impossible and the attack rips right through his garbage ridden body, tearing through the front and coming out the back.

The Garbodor clenches his side as a strange purple fluid starts to ooze from his wound. He doesn't have time to understand what just happened because the other "Flufferang" comes at him and rips right through his lower body, making a similar wound and causing more fluid to come out. He screams in pain this time and his hands shake as he takes them off the small but deep, gaping holes in his body. Mint takes this opportunity to finish what he started and runs up to them. He jumps up at their face, and with a powerful, monstrous, echoing scream, he whacks the Garbodor across the face again with "Tail Slap" for the last and final time, dislocating his jaw once more and making a whole bunch of purple liquid fly.

******The Garbodor falls flat on his side, completely knocked out and defeated. Mint lands on the ground, his job is done and he pants as his tail, fur fluffs, and scarf return to their normal color, but as they do, he gets a painful, burning sensation coming from these areas and he goes to grab his scarf in response, only to BURN his paw, making him jerk away in response. He waves his paw and blows on it a few times. "_What the hell!? My scarf's capable of cooking a berry just by itself!_" He says to himself quietly but quickly forgets about this feeling as he realizes what he just did.

He looks at the defeated Garbodor in front of him. He doesn't have too much time before they wake up and come to, of course, they'll be easily defeated again since they'll be super weak, but he would rather avoid fighting again altogether. He looks around and sees Fai on the opposite end of the block. She's still knocked out and it doesn't seem like she'll be getting up anytime soon. He runs over to her on all fours and stands up when he gets to her. She's not as badly injured as the beasts he just defeated, but still injured nonetheless. He gently puts his paws under her body and carefully lifts her up. He looks around one last time to make sure nobody is gonna attack him. He remembers that there's a Pokemon Center near her apartment and since he's never healed someone in his life, his best option is to go there.

He makes haste. His friend is in need of healing and with his heart still pumping from the fast paced battle that felt like an eternity of fighting, he hopes that they didn't hurt her too bad. As he runs down the sidewalk, a few people that are there notice him holding his injured friend while running to his destination, and he starts to fondly remember what happened with his father and how if he didn't get beat up, he wouldn't have ended up in the hospital. The whole situation is way too close to what happened in the past and as a couple tears drop from his eyes, he starts to feel that this, too, was also his fault.

* * *

**PD: Okay, Mint just went full badass mode and kicked those guys butts. The "Flufferang" is a pretty cool attack, isn't it? If you have any thoughts about this chapter, let me know, but as usual, nothing overtly critical please. Seeya in the next chapter!**


	20. Fai's Savior

**Fai's Savior**

Mint rounds the corner leading to the old district of Castelia City. In his arms is a wounded Fai who got beat up by some Garbodor who got mad at her for being with Mint a few moments ago. He decimated the monsters who hurt her with ease and while he didn't take any damage from it, he worries about Fai since the only thing he can recall from the fight she had was that she ended up being knocked out. He's a bit fuzzy on why they ended up attacking her, but this doesn't matter to him, what does matter is making sure she's okay as this whole thing is close to what happened with his father and the last thing he wants is for her to be stuck in the Pokemon Center for days on end.

He runs with a couple tears in his eyes. His mind is immediately thinking of what she'll say to him when she's fully recovered. It's his fault for allowing this to happen to her, he should've done something to stop them and in turn, protect her from them. She's gonna yell at him for sure, and if she thinks it's enough, might even kick him out of her apartment. He can't bear to hear what she'll say to him, but one way or another, he's going to have to have to come face to face to face with her when she awakens.

He reaches the Pokemon Center and using his right shoulder, pushes the door open and he enters. Inside the lobby, there's a few people and Pokemon in the waiting area. It seems to be a little busy and this isn't good, especially since Mint's worried that Fai could have more injuries than it seems. The whole place is in motion though, and he's approached by one of the nurse Audino. "So, what brings you here today?" they ask kindly.

Mint looks down at his arms, and at Fai. The Audino immediately knows and motions for him to follow her. They bring him through the lobby and through the doors in the back. This leads into a hallway with many rooms lining it on either side and the Audino takes a turn into an empty one. Mint follows and inside is a special bed meant to help a Pokemon rapidly recover. He hands Fai over to the Audino and they place her in the bed. They press a few buttons on the side of the bed and a glass cover comes up to keep her inside and the recovery process begins. The Audino then walks over to a small desk with a computer that's hooked up to the machine that the bed has to allow rapid recovery and she takes a look at Fai's vitals. Everything seems to be okay and they turn to Mint. "Looking at her vitals, she's fine. I do have to ask what exactly happened so I can be sure the recovery process is quick and successful."

He looks at the ground to his left for a moment, then tells her with a shameful tone. "..S-she got into a fight… I-I didn't see the w-whole thing, b-but I stopped the attacking Pokemon f-from hurting her when I f-found her knocked out…"

The Audino takes this information and writes it down in the computer. "Okay, I need a few more things before I go… do you know what this Emolga's name is?"

"F-Fai…"

"Fai… okay… she already has credentials here so I have everything I need. She'll recover just fine, she's come here after quite a few fights before and she's always walked out without any issues so I wouldn't worry about it too much." they say, before walking towards the door. They turn around before they leave to say one last thing. "She'll probably wake up in a few hours, she seems to have taken quite a beating but luckily, she doesn't have any broken bones. You can stay here if you wish until she wakes up." they then leave.

"T-thanks…" he says quietly, but the Audino has already left. He turns his attention to Fai. Inside the little capsule, what seems to be a green mist is floating around her. He doesn't quite know what it is, but he assumes this mist is some special medication to heal a Pokemon. He's never been inside a Pokemon Center before and doesn't know how they work. As he looks at her, he gets images of his father being in the same position, except with his arms in a cast. He whispers to himself. "_Again… once again I'm the reason why someone got hurt. If I didn't let that garbage heap's words bother me, I could've helped you out…_" his arms begin to shake, frustrated with himself for allowing this to happen. "_Dammit all…!_" he stomps his right foot once, then walks to where the computer desk is. "_Why did this have to happen!? Why do my memories keep coming back to haunt and hurt me!? Why can't I let go of my stupid fucking past life!? I'm in Castelia City, the city of new beginnings, the city of chance and fortune, the city that changes someone's life forever! Why can't I move past what I left behind back at Pinwheel Forest!?_" in his anger and frustration, he punches the wall to his left with his right paw. It doesn't break the wall or hurt him, but it makes a loud 'bang' that would surely grab the attention of anyone in the room next to him.

He grabs the pendant with his left paw and looks at it with a sharp gaze. "_You said you'd help guide me in my darkest hours and show me the right path when nobody's there to help me!_" his arms start to shake again and his grip on the pendant tightens. "_Why haven't you helped me! Fucking help me figure this shit out! Tell me! Tell me why ever since my evolution, the only change I've had is the location I'm living in but the pain, sadness, and guilt of my past life has stayed the same, if not, gotten worse!? TELL ME!_" he stands there, staring at the pendant, panting, completely frustrated, and feeling both lost and betrayed.

Silence, except for the sound of the machine healing Fai. Mint lowers his head and lets go of the pendant. He walks over to a chair on the opposite side of the room and decides to take a seat. He places his paws on his chin, holding his head up, thinking about everything that's happened. He evolved with a shiny stone by accident, he nearly got found out by the entire colony and his bullies declared a witch hunt on him, he ran away from home, came to Castelia and met Fai, was given a place to stay with everything he could ever need, got a job literally one day later, and now, failed to protect his friend. He was insulted just for existing in that very place at that exact time and instead of just being able to push past it, instead, it digs up the memories of what he used to deal with. On top of it all, he realizes that he seriously wounded someone that he didn't even know, not because he wanted to hurt them for the sake of harming them, but because they pushed him past his breaking point and hurt one of his friends.

He frowns and his eyes become partially closed. He just doesn't understand. Fai and literally hundreds of other Pokemon in this city probably have terrible life stories as to why they came here, and yet, while the past might sometimes come back and ruin their day, they're able to still push past it and continue living without it bringing them down. Here he is, the only mint-green Cinccino in the world that he knows of and all his life problems have simply followed him from one place to another. He thought by escaping to Castelia he'd be escaping what he dreaded for most of his life, but instead, it's only hunted him down and attached itself to him once again. He's a Mareep, and like a Mareep, they're hunted by predator Pokemon, but unlike a predator, when they catch him, they opt to torture and leave him struggling to survive, then come back several days later to do the same thing again all for their own amusement and pleasure.

"_Is there something I'm missing here? Am I really that stupid and don't see it? Was running away a mistake? Is that why my memories keep haunting me…? There's nothing back home that's worth going to. My parents won't recognize me, All the Minccino in that colony have probably wanted me to disappear or die for years on end in secret, I'll simply be kicked around and bullied again for what I've become, and none of those Pokemon even care if I live or die… So someone or something tell me, was it REALLY a mistake to run away?_"

He sighs, waiting for this otherworldly sign to appear but he knows better, it won't. Suddenly, without any rhyme or reason, the pendant around his neck begins to glow and sparkle very faintly. He notices it from the bottom corner of his eyes and he picks it up with his left paw, holding it in front of his face. He stares at it for a few seconds, trying to figure out why it started to glow. Dumbfounded and bewildered, he holds his gaze on it, hoping for something to go off in his head and tell him what he's been trying to understand for the last few hours but no, nothing happens and it simply keeps glowing and sparkling.

"_Are you trying to tell me something…?_" he says to himself, trying to figure it out, but before he's able to think of anything, it stops glowing. He drops it once again and sits there silently. His mind is only on two things now, what all that meant, and Fai.

* * *

A few hours go by, and the sun is now just over the horizon. The day is about to come to an end but Castelia City has a reputation for being "the city that never sleeps" and with nightfall looming overhead, it doesn't phase the denizens one bit at all. Cars and buses honk their horns at people and Pokemon who dare squeeze through to reach the other side of the street, and the sky begins to slowly turn from its deep blue to a warm, orangey red as the sun starts to exit the stage and let the next star come up to take its place.

In the Pokemon Center, Mint has fallen asleep while waiting for Fai to recover. He's curled up in the chair, his fluffs of fur becoming a very comfy pillow for him, allowing the normally uncomfortable chair to be somewhat more tolerable. His thoughts had eventually transformed into nothing more than simple, pointless worry as he began to drift off. On the other hand, Fai's recovery is pretty much done. She slowly awakens from her long spell of unconsciousness and opens her eyes.

She's greeted by the bright lights on the ceiling and squints in response. The glass casing that came up over her slides away and she sits up in the bed, holding her head with her right hand. She has a very fuzzy recollection of what happened and her body aches her a little. She looks around the room and recognizes that it's the Pokemon Center, but she doesn't know how she got here. "This is the Pokemon Center, but how'd I get here…?" she says to herself quietly and then notices Mint in the chair, sleeping. "Mint, did you bring me here?"

She doesn't get an answer and notices that he's sleeping. She has no idea how he ended up falling asleep in a chair the likes of the one he ended up falling asleep in, but she doesn't question it and instead stands up on the bed and hops onto the ground. She walks over to him and thinks about what happened. "He must've brought me here… I can't quite remember what happened, and what I do remember isn't very clear." she waves it off, the main thing is that she's okay.

She has to wake him up though, she doesn't know what the time is and if it's late at night, the Pokemon Center will be its closing doors and they won't be able to leave. She places her right hand on his cheek and pinches it lightly. This makes him show mild discomfort on his face but it doesn't wake him. She groans a little, slightly frustrated that it didn't wake him and she simply does it again. This time, his right paw comes up and gently pushes her hand away. She puffs her cheeks out a little. "C'mon Mint! You have to wake up." she says quietly as to not startle him and she uses both hands this time and pinches his cheeks.

He makes a little, high pitched whine and his eyes open up. She stops pinching him and speaks. "Hey there sleepyhead, you gotta get up, it's time to go."

He looks at her, half-asleep and very much out of it. He holds a slight frown on his face and then uncurls himself and sits on the chair normally. He rubs his eyes for a second then looks at her once more. His ears are drooped down a bit and he doesn't seem too happy about being woken up. Fai puts her hands on her hips and tilts her head a little. "Had a nice nap? We gotta get going otherwise we'll be stuck here for the night and as helpful as these places are, I don't wanna be here for the rest of the night."

He hops off the chair and yawns, stretching himself out a bit. The two then take their leave and after a quick okay from the front desk allowing Fai to leave, they're off into the orange kissed city once again. The orange glow of the sky combined with the setting sun makes for a very beautiful look that happens at least twice a day, once at sunrise, and once at sunset. Mint and Fai walk down towards the end of the old district and as they do, Fai asks Mint about what happened in order for him to bring her to the Pokemon Center. "So, I know you kinda just woke up, but can you tell me what happened? Why'd you bring me there?" she asks.

He's half-asleep, but still answers, his voice squeaky and weird due to just waking up. "...you… you got into a fight and lost…"

She finds this a bit strange, but she does recall something. "That doesn't sound right, I almost never lose in a fight… unless…" she then remembers one of the Pokemon she fought. "Unless they were a Ground type." she sighs. "Fucking hell, I can't believe I lost to a Ground type out of anything I could've lost to." she then waves it off. "Whatever, the point is that I'm okay."

Mint tells her something else that's a bit startling for her to hear. "T-there was another one…. A Garbodor who s-said something about sliding into y-you... Whatever that m-means..."

This is not only super startling to her, but she finds this extremely disgusting and her face reflects it. "Oh my Arceus… that's fucking nasty! He tried to take advantage of me while I was down!? The nerve! I hope he gets what he deserves in the future by someone else, how dare you try to use a girl for your own personal pleasure!?" she then shakes a little. "Ugh… I don't even wanna think about that now, let's just get back to my home…"

They make a right and walk down the sidewalk. Mint has one last thing to tell her. "I-If it makes you happy… I… I b-beat them up for hurting you… and then I t-took you to the Pokemon C-center…"

She looks at him, a bit surprised to hear this. Upon her first meeting with him, she didn't get the impression he was someone who had it in him to beat someone up. "Wait… you beat them up?"

He nods. He's fully awake now and his voice becomes serious. "If… if there's o-one thing I hate the most, it's… it's seeing others hurt t-those that I consider to be important to m-me… friends you could s-say…"

She stares at him for a few seconds. She remembers that they insulted him before they started to fight. For him to bounce back from crying to beating them down, that's a big thing. He has to be 100% truthful about that, otherwise he wouldn't have done what he did. He went through all the trouble to beat them up for her and he even saved her in the process. She has no words to express how much she appreciates what he did and instead, she jumps at him and grabs him in a very big hug. He's not expecting this and it knocks him down onto the ground.

He has no idea what to think of this, he thought she'd be angry at him for allowing them to knock her out as well as nearly use her for something quite disgusting. He doesn't know how to react to this, but he knows one thing: it's extremely embarrassing and weird, his cheeks begin to heat up and turn a deep shade of red. She rubs her cheeks up against his. "Thank you Mint… thank you for stopping them and taking care of me." they both stand up, but she continues to hug him. He's never hugged anyone in his life besides his parents and isn't sure if he should do the same. While hesitating, he slowly wraps his arms around her, embracing the hug she gave to him. He doesn't stay like this for long and quickly stops hugging her. She does the same and notices the extremely deep red on his cheeks and she smiles while slightly shaking her head. "C'mon, let's go home."

The two walk down the sidewalk towards her apartment, and it feels very good to be almost home after such a terrible day. Mint isn't very proud of having to have fought someone to stop them from hurting Fai, but as he said, he can't stand to see his friends get hurt and he'd do anything to help them. While he's done his good deed for the day, he still gets bit and nipped by the thoughts he was having earlier. He doesn't worry about them, but they linger in the back of his mind and as the next day approaches, he'll have better things to worry about, such as the first day of his new job. For now, though, the rest of the day is spent relaxing.

* * *

**PD: Wanna talk about cute? I swear Fai doesn't have feelings for Mint, the way she acts is part of her personality. Got thoughts about all this? let me know! Seeya in the next chapter!**


	21. First Day On The Job And…

**First Day On The Job And…**

"Hey Mint, C'mon! You gotta wake up!" the sound of Fai's sweet voice is what he awakens to on this fine morning in Castelia City. She's woken him up much earlier than usual compared to the past two days since today is the first day that he'll be working at the cafe. She wants to make sure he's in tip-top shape before he starts. He opens his eyes to see her looming over him. "I want you to get ready, it's your first day at the cafe and you don't wanna be late, right?"

He sits up, almost completely wiping away the feeling of sleep and then realizes that she's on the bed with him, their faces very close to each other now. She pokes him on the nose. "Are you gonna stare at me or are you gonna get yourself ready?" he flinches in response.

"Y-y-yes! I-I'm gonna wash up!" he says as he pulls himself away from her, hops off the bed, and runs off to the bathroom, his cheeks super hot and red from being so close to her. She watches as he runs off and giggles to herself.

"He sure is lively this morning… Hopefully the job will take his mind off of whatever it is that's been weighing him down lately." she says, only a little worried about what it was. She wishes he would tell her that way she could possibly help him out, but if he's hellbent on keeping it locked up, then she won't be able to help him at all.

30 minutes goes by and Mint comes out of the bathroom, sparkling clean. He broke all sorts of cleaning records with that time, more specifically, the record for how long it takes a Cinccino to clean itself off. Despite the short time, he's sparkling from ear to foot and spotless. Fai comes out of the guest bedroom and sees him. He turns to face her. "I-I'm ready! What about y-you?"

She snaps her fingers. "Before I woke you up, I took the time to get ready myself. All we have to do now is head on out! I'm much smarter than I look you know!"

"I-I never said you w-weren't smart…"

She chuckles. "I know, it's just an expression silly. Let's go."

She skips over to the door, places her right hand on the doorknob, opens it and motions for Mint to go through but he declines, shaking his head. She finds this rather interesting, but doesn't question it and goes through, he follows once she leaves and closes the door behind him. They walk down the steps and down towards the sidewalk, making a right at the end. They head towards "Cast Square", not hand in hand like the last few times they went out somewhere together. As they walk, the cars and buses fly right past them, people on the sidewalk commute to their day jobs, and the early morning sun shines in from the east.

They enter "Cast Square" and walk all the way down to "Cafe Amour". This time, Mint opens the door for Fai and motions for her to go in and she happily enters. He closes the door behind him as he walks in and the cafe presents itself to them. There's only one customer here but they already got their order a few minutes earlier and seem to be satisfied by it. Mint and Fai walk all the way down to the counter but instead of going to the cash register, Fai takes Mint through a small gate on the far end of the counter and this grants them access to everything behind it. They go into the back rooms and inside, they find Tony. He seems to be just standing there for no reason but he's simply been waiting for them to arrive. Fai calls out to him. "Tony! We're here!"

He turns around to see them. "Ahh! It's Mint and Fai, so good to see you two!" he claps his hands together. "Fai, you can go and get ready, I gotta show Mint the ropes here so you'll have to handle customers and cooking for a bit."

She nods. "Nothing I can't do, I'll make sure they're happy with what they want." she then runs off to another room that has a small plaque on it that reads "Changing room".

Mint raises an eyebrow at this. "_H-huh? W-why would she need to go in t-there?_"

Tony notices that he's eyeing down the changing room. "Oh! You seem quite curious about the changing room. Well, hehehee… lemme tell you. Since you've said you never had a job before, things are done a bit differently when working. Here, all employees are required to wear professional clothing regardless of what they're doing, be it working the cash register, cooking the food, cleaning the floors and tables, or handing out the orders. It doesn't matter, you must look the part while working. So, with that being said, I took into account that you and Fai are exactly the same height so I have the perfect outfit for you." he then taps his fingers together. "Unfortunately… you may not like it because it's not meant for…" he cuts himself off.

"N-not meant f-for what?" he says, a bit anxious at what he means.

Tony clears his throat. "It's not meant for a male Pokemon, but because I never expected to hire one, I never ordered a proper outfit for a Pokemon under 2 feet tall that's male…"

Mint realizes what he means and his entire face grows a deep red. While some people and Pokemon may think that the somewhat girly look a Cinccino has can lead to wrong gender labels being applied to them, he's never really had a problem with the way he looks, only just how the others back in the colony would treat him. If what he's thinking is correct, he'll have to wear something that will for SURE make it seem like he's a girl.

Tony notices this and he looks away, feeling a bit bad for him. "I-I'm sorry Mint… it's only temporary because I contacted the place that makes these things and requested they rush deliver one that'll suit you better. It'll only be for a few days at most, so try to bare with it as best as you can. I'll make it up to you by giving double the pay rate this week even though I shouldn't do this to a brand new employee…"

Mint taps his paws anxiously. "_Great… just what I needed, I'm practically gonna be wearing a sign that says "hey, make fun of me!" for the next few days…_" is what he thinks to himself as he follows Tony out of the backroom and back behind the counter.

A few moments later, Fai comes out all dressed in what can only be best described as a maid-like outfit. When Mint sees this, he almost screams and to prevent this, he covers his mouth with his paws, muffling the high pitched sound that would've escaped his mouth. This makes her raise an eyebrow at his reaction. "What's wrong? Haven't you ever seen a waitress outfit before?"

He points at it with his left paw, face super red, and he stutters and fails to make words come out of his mouth. "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-bu-bu-bu!" he gives up trying to talk and simply covers his entire face with both paws.

Fai looks at Tony. "What's going on here? Why's he all flustered and embarrassed like that?"

He chuckles. "Hehehee… well, I should've told him yesterday, but I don't have any proper male outfits for a Pokemon of his size. Since it would be unprofessional to wear nothing, he's going to have to wear what you're wearing."

Her eyes widen. "Oh shit!" she then covers her mouth. She said this a bit too loud and the only customer in the cafe looks up in response. She sees this and her cheeks become red. Luckily, the customer simply ignores her.

Tony sighs. "That's exactly what I said to myself yesterday when I realized that. I wish I knew about it beforehand but, oh well."

Fai's very worried now, this can only spell disaster. "This is going to suck so much Tony, it's his FIRST DAY and they're gonna expect him to know what he's doing in an outfit like mine."

He nods. "I completely understand that." he then turns to Mint. "Which is why I want you to remember that if someone starts treating you badly, you simply walk away from the situation and come get me. I don't want anyone starting a fight with you or doing something to you that could get you injured. I've had a few customers who had beef with Fai before, but she's handled herself well and managed to fix the situation. Since you're quite nervous and stuff, I don't expect you to be able to do that, so don't attempt it, alright?"

Mint slowly takes his paws off his beat red face and nods slowly. He's starting to regret taking the job as he can only imagine what's gonna happen if someone has a problem with him. Tony gives him a few pats on the back. "Don't sweat it, most customers have quite a bit of patience in the morning since we tend to get a bit busy, we're a bit famous for our breakfast special."

Hearing that makes him a little less worried, but not by much. He sighs and talks to himself quietly. "_I'll be lucky to survive the entire day without fainting from embarrassment…_"

For about the next hour or so, Mint is shown how to cook food properly, use the cash register, and how to balance the platter on his shoulder when bringing food and drink out. After all said and done, he's ready to do it for real this time, but now, with a dress on. He loathes this and while being taught how to do these things, Tony also tells him that he'll be working for 5 hours since he doesn't want to overload him knowing that he's never done this before. Now on his own, Mint heads into the backroom and tries to mentally prepare himself to combat the shame he's about to experience upon putting the outfit on. "_Alright… it's just clothes, not like it means anything… Y-you already look like a girl, so t-this shouldn't be a big p-problem, right? Y-yeah! I-it's just a stupid outfit that I'll have to wear for 3 days… for 5 hours in this place…. While serving… c-customers…_" he thinks to himself. He pushes the changing room door open and he comes face to face with the only outfit on the rack, the dress that he'll be wearing while working. A few drops of sweat form on his forehead, slowly roll down it, and his heart begins to beat a little faster. His left eye twitches once and he swallows a large amount of spit, making a 'gulping' noise in the process. It's no use in hesitating and he has a job to do so he sucks it up and grabs the outfit off the coat hanger and quickly puts it on.

Surprisingly, the outfit fits him perfectly to a T, but then again, Tony did say that it was specifically designed for a Pokemon of his height. He turns around and on the back of the door is a mirror and he looks at his reflection. The black and white dress seems a bit fancy for a job, but this isn't the main concern on his mind. He frowns and shakes his head, trying to ignore how embarrassing it is and comes out. He takes a few deep breaths before opening the door leading back to the counter. Tony hears the door and looks back to see him. He takes note of the rather unpleasant expression Mint has and speaks to him. "Alright, I know you hate it, but you can't give customers a look like that. Try your best to hide it please, otherwise customers may not be so friendly to you."

Mint looks up at him. "T-this is… this i-is soo e-embarrassing…"

"You'll be fine, it's only for a few days. Now c'mon, I need to get in the back so I can get food ready when customers order, so you'll handle the register for now." he says

Mint gulps and nods. "O-okay… g-got i-it…" but deep down, he's freaking out. He's gonna have to engage with the customers socially and be confident, something that he's not good at doing at all. Tony heads into the back where the kitchen is and Mint steps up to the cash register. He breathes a bit deeper than normal and shakes very slightly. He watches the front door, anticipating a customer to come in at any moment and each passing second makes him more and more anxious. He gets so focused on the door that he doesn't notice Fai approaching him from the front. She jumps up onto the counter, and knocks on it a couple times with her right fist to grab his attention. This freaks him out and he jumps slightly, flinches, and looks to see who it is.

She talks to him. "So, Tony showed you how to do everything, right?"

He recovers from what felt like a heart attack and sighs. "N-never do that again… and yes, h-he did…"

She can see how nervous and anxious he is, it reminds her of when she first met him and she doesn't like it at all because it's going to get in his way while trying to do his job. She reaches over the counter and pokes him in the cheek with her right hand. "Loosen up! This is like the 3rd time this week I've had to tell you this! If you can't calm yourself down, I'm going to zap you into being calm!"

He takes his left paw and slaps himself across the face. Fai is taken aback by this and gasps, not expecting him to do such a thing. He shakes his head many times rapidly to try and get rid of the anxiety but all this manages to do is leave him slightly lightheaded alongside the light red mark across his left cheek. She gets upset by what he did. "What the heck was that for!? When I said for you to pull yourself together, I didn't mean to inflict pain on yourself!"

He lets loose a deep breath. "I-I'm sorry F-Fai… I… I d-don't know if I can d-do it…" his voice is shaky and all over the place with anxiety.

She sighs. "How about this, I take care of the register and you hand out food? Tony doesn't mind who does what as long as things get done."

If all he has to do is hand out food, then that's not a problem at all and he won't have to interact with anyone. It sounds much better than what he would've had to do. "Y-yeah… I-I think t-that's better…"

She comes around and gets behind the counter. Mint steps down from the register and she takes his spot. She motions for him to leave and he comes out from behind the counter and stands where she was a few moments before. "Okay, this is simple. When a customer orders their food and drink, they're gonna sit at a table and all you have to do is take it to them. Tony showed you how to balance the platter on your shoulder, so this should be a cakewalk for you."

It's less nerve wracking, but he's still super anxious and nervous. "Y-yeah… I-I can do t-this…"

They both wait for a while, about 50 minutes before a couple customers, two humans, show up and come in. They go right up to the counter and order a couple things, one of them orders a hot coffee and some toast with eggs while the other is undecided. While the first person orders, the other customer continues to glance over at Mint, taking note of his odd fur coloring and giving him a very odd and strange look. This reminds him of the looks the others in the colony would sometimes give him and as upsetting and frustrating as it is, he does his best to pretend they're not looking at him and simply ignores them. With Tony in the back making the food, it takes only a few minutes for everything to be done and in no time at all, the platter is ready to be brought out.

Fai takes the platter and hands it over to Mint. She winks and whispers to him before handing it off. "You got this! I believe in you!" she then hands it over to him and he takes it.

Mint tries to replicate the technique that Tony showed him for balancing the platter on his shoulder and while it isn't perfect, it works good enough for him and despite it looking like it would be way too heavy, it weighs almost nothing to him. With the platter on his left shoulder and him holding the bottom with his left paw, he slowly makes his way over to the table that the first customer sat at. It takes him a solid 20 seconds to get there and the customer watches him the entire time as he makes his way there. When he reaches the table, they grab their stuff and with that, Mint is able to take the platter off his shoulder and gets ready to head back but as he turns around, the customer says "thank you" to him, which shocks him and as quickly as he can, he turns back and with a super quiet, trainwreck of a voice, responds. "Y-y-y-y-you're…. Y-you're w-w-welcome…" he then runs back, hoping they don't comment on the atrocious way he said this.

The other Human customer at the counter finally decides what they want. "Yeah… I know what I want now. Lemme get an EXTRA hot coffee, and the breakfast special, chop chop!" However, their tone doesn't sound so friendly and they seem to be a bit impatient.

Sweat forms on Mint's head and he gets a bad feeling. "_T-this person d-doesn't seem nice… T-they just ordered F-Fai to be fast… I hope they d-don't get upset w-with me…_" is what he thought to himself as he watches Fai punch in his order at a blazing fast speed. From the corner of his eye, he catches this person glancing at him a couple more times, giving him the same weird looks from before.

Fai finishes placing his order and witty responds to their rude attitude. "Fast enough for you sonny boy? It'll be done in about 5 minutes, so calm your tush and take a breather, that's why this place is so lax and chill after all." she hands him the receipt and he swipes it out of her hands, giving her a stern look. She notices that Mint saw all of this and she calls him. "Psst! Mint, get over here!" He goes up to the counter and she whispers to him. "You see that guy over there? He just ordered and is a prime example of a potentially rude and nasty customer. He already gave me an attitude and that fits the criteria for "rude customer", so chances are he's not having a good day or some shit. Not my problem nor is it yours, but be wary, I saw how long it took for you to do the first order and the entire time that guy kept glancing over at you, so if they order you to hurry, don't listen to them and do it at your own speed, okay?" she then winks and sticks her tongue out at him a little.

He nods, extremely worried about what will happen when he goes to deliver it. Sadly, the food takes about 6 minutes to be made and this already shoots down what Fai said to this guy and as he looks at his phone to check the time, he calls over to her. "Yo! You said 5 minutes, where's my stuff!?"

She responds back. "I didn't say exactly 5 minutes, I said ABOUT 5 minutes. It'll be with you very soon, please be patient…"

Mint shakes a little. He doesn't wanna go anywhere near this person but he has no choice. Tony comes out with the platter and hands it off to Fai who prepares to give it to Mint. She whispers to him once again. "I'll be watching… if he tries anything stupid, I'm gonna jump over this counter and try to stop it before it happens." her expression reflects her seriousness and this fills him with a little bit of confidence and he nods.

He takes the platter from her, situates it on his left shoulder, balances it, and then takes a deep breath and heads over to the man. In his head, he's repeating the same thing. "_It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay… hand the food over and everything's gonna be okay…_" he slowly approaches the table and the guy turns to face him. He notices how slow he's going and he makes a rude comment.

"C'mon, you're not a granny Pokemon yet, let's GOOOO!"

Mint ignores it and keeps going at his own speed. The guy makes a sound of disgust but it only takes him a few more seconds to get there. He takes his shit quickly from Mint and this super fast transfer of weight almost makes him fall over. He manages to gain his balance back and sighs, putting the platter under his arm and getting ready to turn and leave but as the guy sips his coffee, he spits it out onto the plate with his food. "What the fuck!?" he says, looking at the cup again. This stops Mint right in his tracks and he begins to shake. The guy stands up and goes over to him, kneels down, and speaks right in his face. "Care to tell me what this fucking shit is?"

Mint doesn't know how to respond, not like he's given much time to think about it, because the guy yells in his face. "THIS FUCKING COFFEE IS ONLY WARM, NOT EXTRA HOT LIKE I FUCKING ORDERED YOU REGURGITATED BOOGER!" this makes Mint flinch and back up a little.

Fai sees this and yells from the counter. "HEY!" but sadly, it's wasted and the guy simply takes his disappointment out on Mint.

"You think this is funny?" Mint shakes his head 'No' but he has an odd smirk on his face. He doesn't know how to react to any of this. This makes the guy really mad and instead of yelling, he opens the plastic lid off the coffee cup and pours it out all over him. The rather hot Coffee burns Mint's fur and skin a bit and this makes him jump back in response. He falls to the floor, screeching and yelling a horrible sound of pain that nobody in the cafe thought a Cinccino could produce, but it also grabs the attention of Tony.

In response, Fai does exactly what she said she'd do and hops over the counter, jumping at the Human's face and pushing them down to the floor. "What the hell are you doing!?" she says as she stands on their chest. They don't respond and instead, they punch her off their chest. It stings her a little and the force makes her fly into one of the chair legs behind her but she's not hurt at all. She doesn't care about this scumbag and turns to Mint, who is now on the floor, rolling around with tears pouring out of his eyes. The outfit he's wearing and his entire body appears to have been soaked with hot coffee. She runs over to him, helps him up, and coaxes him behind the counter.

Tony comes running from the kitchen. "What was that scream I just heard!?" he says before looking down and seeing the coffee soaked Cinccino crying in pain with Fai by his side, trying to wipe him off with paper towels. He looks over to the guy that is about to leave without paying or finishing his food. He yells to them. "HEY YOU! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Tony runs out from behind the counter and takes off after the guy who pushes the door open and starts to run away.

Fai tries her best to sop up as much of this steaming coffee off him, but for some strange reason, she's not getting much on the towels. The oil on his fur managed to repel most of it, but not all of it. Whatever did get through managed to reach the skin under his fur and burn him. This coffee wasn't hot, it was extra hot, just the way it was ordered. This person was being a complete asshole just because they could and saw Mint as the perfect vessel to harm since he seemed new to the cafe. Fai wipes his face off, the water of his tears mixing with the little bit of coffee as she picks it up off his face. Through his crying, he speaks, his tone extremely upset. "I-I d-d-didn't... d-do anything w-wrong!"

She stops wiping him down and gives him a big hug, rubbing his back. She can't believe that person did what they did. She's glad she stepped in though, otherwise they might've done something else to him that could've caused more problems. She holds a big frown and a very irritated look on her face, she knew that customer was bad news, but this was unexpected. Tony comes back in, out of breath, a few minutes later. He slams the door shut and the bell clangs and bangs against the glass. "Dammit!" he says, angry that he couldn't catch the bastard. He stomps his way behind the counter and kneels down to check on Mint. "Hey, you alright there?"

He shakes his head. Fai is still hugging him and rubbing his back. She turns to him. "I-I don't even… Why would they do that to him?"

Tony punches part of the counter. "Nothing but a fucking asshole who wanted to cause trouble, that's what!" he hurts his hand slightly and shakes it off, growling a little before turning back to Mint. "If you want, you can have the rest of the day off. That was uncalled for and nobody treats my new employee like that and gets away with it." he then grabs the cordless phone next to the register and dials 911, walking into the kitchen in the process hoping to get the police on that person's ass.

Fai goes back to tending to Mint. "You alright? I know that probably hurt a lot but, I don't want you to stay out here anymore."

He responds, his crying starting to slowly subside. His voice sounds nasally and stuffy. "I-I'm fine… t-that h-hurt though…" he sniffs and stands up, holding a heavy expression. "I was j-just doing w-what I w-was told to d-do…"

Fai grabs his left paw and the two slowly walk towards the door to the backroom. "I know, I told you that guy was bad news, I just wish I knew he was planning on doing that. I'm so sorry Mint, I wish I could've stopped him before he did that…"

He accepts her apology, but deep down, this whole event has sparked the thought that all of this was mistake a yet again. He didn't even do anything wrong this time, someone was just looking to pick on him for the sake of seeing him in pain. It isn't fair at all, and as he walks into the backroom with Fai, he truly begins to doubt that all of this was actually a really good idea. He's starting to live the same life he was living a few days ago, just with a new coat of paint and there's nothing he can do to stop it.

* * *

**PD: Rude customers fucking suck, right? Figures you get one on the first day of your first job... How will Mint react to this and will he continue to work for the rest of the day? Find out next chapter! Seeya then!**


	22. Realization

**Realization**

Mint had quite the bad experience with a customer and although it ruined his spirits and made him quite upset, he still wanted to keep working. Tony said that he didn't have to keep working, but Mint insisted that he'd be fine. He started the job and he wants to finish it. With only a couple hours left anyway, it was better to simply work the shift rather than cower down due to just one bad customer. The only issue with this is the fact that he smelt like coffee, and some of the customers even teased him about it.

The teasing wasn't nice, and while it would make him frown and tear up a little, he did his best to push past it and as the last customer of the day left the shop, they were getting ready to close up. Unlike other cafes in Castelia, this one only stays open to 2 PM Unova time. A good thing for him as it means Mint and Fai can get out early and have the rest of the day to themselves. With only one thing left, they hop to it and that one thing is cleaning up the floor and tables.

Mint stares the entire room down with a big, confident smirk on his face. "_This is nothing! I've seen dirtier places before and this won't be difficult at all!_" he thinks to himself as the natural instinct to deep clean everything around him begins to take control. He claps his paws together twice and breathes in deeply. "_I'm gonna make this place so clean, you'll be able to eat off the floor!_" he says to himself quietly.

He runs over to the nearest table, jumps onto it, and using his tail, he begins to wipe away anything that he can see with his tail. Compared to when he was a Minccino, his tail is significantly better at cleaning than before. The longer, fluffier fur enables him to scrub off stuff like sauce and stuck on food with ease, it also brushes away dust, crumbs, and small leftover bits of food with no effort too. He jumps down and goes to the next table and repeats the process until every table in the room is clear.

He jumps off the last table and looks at the floor. Everything that he brushed off is now here and all he has to do is simply brush it together and put it into a dustpan or something. He begins to push all the garbage and food crumbs together in one big pile and then pushes it all the way over to where the counter is. He jumps up on the raised platform, grabs the dust pan that he put up there, then brushes everything into it. He takes this dust pan and goes behind the counter, then deposits all the garbage into a special trash chute.

He claps his paws together a few times to get rid of any dust that might've gotten on them and then hops up onto the counter. He takes a look at the room and everything is super clean and spotless. It even shines a little in the soft light as well. Mint nods, pleased with his own work. The door behind him opens up and Fai comes out with cleaning supplies. "Alright! Let's clean!" she says excitedly.

He turns his head to look at her. She walks over to him. "You should be an expert at this, right? You ARE a Cinccino after all, and I hear they have a big rep for being super clean." She then looks past him and notices that everything is sparkling clean. "...wait… did you already clean up?" she asks, a bit confused since whenever she cleans up, it usually takes around 20 minutes but Mint managed to do it in about a quarter of that time. He nods and she frowns a little. "No fair… I wanted to clean with you…"

She takes the cleaning supplies and goes into the back. There's no need for them since he pretty much did everything that needed to be done. Since the job is done, he hops down from the counter and enters the back room. Internally, he's starting to jump for joy because he'll finally be able to get out of the waitress outfit and once he gets home with Fai, he'll be able to wash himself off and get rid of the coffee smell, which is starting to become a bit nauseating to him. He enters the backroom and takes the outfit off and hangs it back on the rack. He goes to leave but then realizes that the coffee that was spilt on him not only got on his fur, but also the outfit as well.

He decides to take it off the rack and bring it to Tony. He walks down the small hallway and stops in front of the door leading to Tony's office. He knocks on it a couple times with his right paw and he comes out. He looks down and sees him holding the outfit. "We're all done here I see. Ah yes, I'll take the outfit and get that cleaned up." he then growls something under his breath. "I still wish I caught that bastard for what he did…" he goes back to him. "Anyway, I'll be seeing you and Fai tomorrow then, okay? Same time as earlier today."

Mint nods and then goes to leave. On the way back, he encounters Fai. She just finished up getting out of her waitress outfit and was just gonna look for him. "Oh, there you are. I was about to look for you because I couldn't find you after I put the cleaning stuff away."

"I'm done here… I-I wanna go home now…" he says, while itching behind his right ear.

"That's why I was looking for you. Now let's go."

The two leave the backroom and head out from behind the counter and out the front door. The little bell on it ringing as they push it open and walk out into Cast square. There isn't anything really said between the two of them and on the way back, Mint thinks about what happened earlier. That customer was very rude and nasty to him for no reason, and on his first day too. He knows that nasty people and Pokemon exist, but he never expected it to be so soon that he would deal with one while working. He can only hope that as he continues to work at the cafe, nobody else treats him like that.

* * *

Back in Pinwheel Forest. Emilia and Ross have ended what was almost a full 24 hour search for Mint at the eastern end of the forest by the beach. Everyone helped pitch in to look for him and while a few of them gave Emilia and Ross a couple of problems, they managed to deal with them accordingly.

The search turned up with nothing. They looked all over the place in every possible location they could think of that would be good enough for Mint to hide in. No luck, not even a clue as to where he went. The result of this search has not only tired out the entire colony, but has also caused Emilia and Ross to lose a small amount of hope. They knew that they probably wouldn't find him that same day, but the thought was a nice one. They still have much hope luckily, and as they move onto the next section of the forest, they hope their son is somewhere out there and well.

For now, everyone has returned home. They'll be resting up for a little while until Emilia gives out the call for everyone to gather at the fountain plaza to start the next search. Some of the Minccino whose dens and homes were damaged by Mint's "Hyper Voice" have started to repair what was damaged. The fountain in the plaza might've taken the brunt of the attack, but it still holds strong and while the pool had cracked, they were able to make a temporary seal to stop water from leaking out. They don't know how long it will hold though. Despite all of this, those that aren't out and about are at home resting. At the den where Ross and Emilia live, they're not having a good time. While they helped search, they've also had time to think about what they could've done in the past to further prevent something like this from happening.

"You know, I wish we could've foreseen something like this happening. If we knew ahead of time, I would've jumped out of that hospital bed and ran my way back here to help him." Says Ross.

"It's not your fault, nor is it mine that he ran away." Emilia responds.

"Are you kidding? If I didn't pick a fight with Brian, You, me, and Mint would all still be here and we'd be a happy family again…" he says, quite frustrated with himself. "Why'd I have to act on instinct rather than logic…"

Emilia walks over to him and sits next to him. "Don't be so hard on yourself… I know how much you hate it when someone hurts the family."

He growls lowly. "But that's not the point! The reason he ran away was because he didn't have anyone to help him. He was self-conscious of what he turned into and the fact that he couldn't turn back didn't help either. If he had someone he trusted by his side when of all that happened, I guarantee he'd be here right now."

She shakes her head. "Can you really be sure of that?"

He looks at her, a sharp look and strong frown. "I'm 1000% positive about that. I know my son just as well as you and I know for a fact that you know that if he had someone he could trust by his side the entire time, he would've dealt with it in a much calmer and more rational way." He breaks his gaze and looks down, twiddling his paws together. "If you were to suddenly evolve against your will, how would you react? What would you do knowing that everyone in the colony hates you?"

She scratches her head for a moment. "I'd probably wanna go home, hide, and never come out."

He shakes his head. "But that's not what he did. He was here for one day at the minimum. Where he went after that day, we have no clue on."

Emilia remembers what Mint had told her in Nacrene City before running back home the day Ross got beat up.

"_...I-It's my fault! How come you can't see that!? Dad attacked Brian because he was trying to protect me! If I never hurt Patricia to begin with, none of this would've happened! Brian wouldn't have been knocked out by me, Dad wouldn't be in the hospital, I wouldn't have gotten my ass kicked, and we'd all be at home dealing with the usual problems we always deal with! IT'S MY FAULT!"_

"_I'm going home. I don't know what you're gonna do, but I'm a disgrace to you and dad. If he asks where I am, don't tell him anything. I don't need him trying to get out in an attempt to save me from threats that don't exist. I caused him enough pain for one day."_

A feeling of guilt begins to form in her gut, she realizes that he was already quite hurt from everything that happened that day, and her ignorance of not seeing Mint's perspective of those events only added to the problem. Her eyes close a little and she sighs silently. "I wish I saw what he was talking about sooner." she thinks about it all, and while she didn't understand back then, she understands it now. She sees how he saw it and in her eyes, she did nothing to help him. "It's our fault."

Ross looks up at her, confused as to how she came to this conclusion. "Our fault? But didn't you just say it wasn't?"

She explains. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to make you worry more than you should've, but not saying anything was probably more harmful in the long run. Mint told me that he was gonna go home, but before all of that, I tried to tell him that what happened to you wasn't his fault. He didn't let me finish, insisting that because of his terrible decision to attack Patricia almost a week ago, it lead to all the events that happened. He got beat and you tried to beat up Brian in response, landing you in the hospital. He thought all of that was his fault, and looking back on it, I can now see why he thought that way. In a sense, it is partially his fault."

Ross understands it all too, but he still doesn't understand why he'd run away. "I see… but this doesn't really help us-" she cuts him off.

"No, it does. I didn't help him. I didn't see what he saw. I only saw what I believed to be the Mint that could do no wrong. He wanted to take responsibility for what happened, and I couldn't see that. In turn, he told me not to tell you that he ran home. You already know because it doesn't take a genius to figure it out, but what he said before he left hurt the most…"

"What did he say?"

She looks away for a moment before responding with a slightly saddened tone. "He said he was a disgrace to both of us and that he didn't want to cause more pain and problems."

Ross shakes his head, not believing that Mint would ever say something like that. Emilia can't believe it either, but he physically said it to her and she can't pretend he didn't say it. The worst part is that she did nothing to help him. "I didn't even do anything to help him… I bet he thought that we were upset with him or possibly even disowned him."

Ross continues to look at the ground for a few moments, but after hearing all of this, his heart shakes and hardens itself. He clenches both of his paws into fists and he stands up, his voice quite loud and stronger than before. "We have to find him. He's out there hurting pretty bad somewhere and each day that passes only makes things worse for him."

She nods, but he knows that she doesn't quite understand what he actually means. "I don't mean that he's only hurt with wounds or something like that, I'm talking about emotional and mental pain. He's lost, doesn't have anyone to turn to, and sooner or later, he's gonna take himself out, or someone else will. He could be hurt physically and walking around with wounds, but I'm more worried that his current emotional and mental state is about to reach a point of no return, driving him to a decision he won't be able to undo."

He looks towards the draped entrance of the den. "Our son, Mint, no matter where you are, we will find you. We won't rest until you're found and brought back home alive and safe. Mark my words, we haven't disowned you, we're still your parents even if you've evolved into a Cinccino. Our blood flows through you along with our DNA and nobody can tell you different. We WILL find you."

* * *

**PD: So sorry for the 4 day period of silence with this story... I lost all motivation to write randomly and just couldn't kick the bucket for that long. Hopefully that doesn't happen again because we're getting VERY close to the end of this story. ANYWAY, Mint's parents realize just how dire the situation is and that Mint isn't just possibly hurt in one way, but as many as 3 ways. They're determined to find him, but remember those vicious Pokemon rumored to live in the forest? Hmmmmmm... find out in the future, Seeya in the next chapter!**


	23. Rough and Tough Customers

**PD: Just a heads up, this chapter is a bit longer than usual and has an optional theme. It's called "Pokemon B2/W2 Battle! Neo Team Plasma Extended" when you see a "*" play it and when you see "**" stop the theme. You don't have to use it though. I don't own this song either by the way.**

* * *

**Rough and Tough Customers**

The next day is awoken by the sun rising on the east side of Castelia City. However, unlike the last few days, the light of the morning sun isn't seen by anyone due to clouds blocking it out, a tall tale sign of how the day is going to go. The gloomy grey barrier above drags down the mood of all those in the city and sure, there's always that small group of people and Pokemon who aren't really affected by it, but most of them are.

This is no exception to Mint and Fai. As they walk to the cafe for another day of work, they both seem to be a bit under the weather. There's one good thing though, and that's the fact that the job has helped to take Mint's mind off of everything else that he was thinking about. His doubts and confusion as to coming here being the best choice of action that he had have stopped and things are a bit more neutral now.

Mint and Fai walk hand in hand with each other, while Mint is still embarrassed to hold hands with her, he's starting to get used to it. They move a bit slower than usual and both are extremely quiet while walking. The streets and sidewalks are just as crowded as they usually are during the morning. The same old cars and buses drive by on the road, and hundreds of people and Pokemon head to their destination for the day. The sounds of engines roaring and people and Pokemon talking can be heard, as well as the sounds of the electronic billboards trying to entice anyone into buying the products shown on-screen.

As Mint and Fai turn right and head into "Cast Square", a strange, odd feeling begins to form inside of them. Today isn't going to be a normal day, and whatever life has in store for them isn't what they're usually accustomed to. They slowly approach the cafe but before they ascend the steps to open the door, Fai stops and asks Mint something. "Hey Mint?"

He looks at her. "Y-yeah?"

She frowns, her tone a bit lower than usual. "I… I don't want to worry you, but I've got a bad feeling for some reason. I don't know why, but I just do."

He has the same exact feeling too, and just like her, he doesn't know why. "M-me too. I hope n-nothing bad happens t-today…"

They both look into each other's eyes for a few moments before Mint breaks away and opens the door for her. The little bell rings as he does this and she goes in. He follows behind her and the door closes by itself. Unlike yesterday, the cafe is completely empty and super quiet. The unnatural silence is ever so slightly unsettling and the two don't bother to stick around and let it settle into them so they head behind the counter and into the backroom.

Hearing the door to the backroom open, Tony comes out of his office to greet them. "Mint and Fai, so nice to see you once again."

Fai gives him a weak smile. "Yeah yeah… today just isn't a good day."

He frowns and is curious. "Why not? Did something happen?"

She shakes her head. "Not at all, but it's just one of those gloomy days, you know?"

He understands. "Yes… I get it. A little under the weather are we? That's alright, I'm sure once you both get working, that'll start to lighten up and everything will be okay."

She takes his words at face value and goes into the changing room. Tony turns his attention to Mint. "If you're wondering about that outfit, I cleaned it up real good and it's as good as new. You might have to wear it for a couple more days though…"

This makes his ears droop a little. "_Darn… I was hoping you'd have gotten the other outfit by now…_"

Tony sees this. "Hey, you did great yesterday after what happened to you! Don't let the outfit get to you, I know today isn't great like Fai said, but you can do it."

Mint looks at the door to the changing room. "I-I guess… I j-just hope nobody… n-nobody does that to m-me again…"

Tony pats him on the back gently a few times. "Don't sweat it, rude customers come and go but you can't possibly have something worse happen to you. After we closed down, I got a call from the police saying they found the guy and they took him away, so if it makes you feel better, you have no chance of seeing him again."

He stays silent. What could be worse than having piping hot coffee poured all over you? There's quite a few things in mind that he's thinking about and he hopes that none of them ever happen to him. The changing room door opens and Fai comes out all dressed up. "Room's yours, Mint. I gotta make sure nobody's here." she then heads out of the backroom through the door to tend to any customers that might've shown up.

Mint heads into the changing room and eyes down the clean and fresh waitress outfit. He frowns and gives it a nasty look, he hates this thing with every fiber of his being and wishes he didn't have to wear it. He didn't think of it yesterday, but he does now and he partially attributes the events that happened yesterday to it. He grinds his teeth and clenches his paws into fists. "_I hate this thing, just another reason for someone to pick on me. I guarantee that human knew I wasn't a girl and decided to pick on me since I was wearing such a humiliating outfit._" in his head, he can see himself tearing it into pieces. It looks and feels satisfying in his head, but if he dare do that in reality, he'd probably be yelled at by Tony. There's no use in giving a dress nasty looks and threatening gestures, it won't respond back, so he takes it off the rack and puts it on like he did yesterday. The fancy dress still fits him perfectly and he's reminded of what he looks like to other people and Pokemon thanks to the mirror hanging on the door.

He grunts, frustrated and annoyed by it, and places his paw on the knob, turns it, and opens it so he can leave. He takes a few deep breaths as he does this to try and calm himself down before going out to the cafe. He pushes the door open and comes out behind the counter. In the time it took for him to change, the whole place became real busy. A total of 8 customers showed up and Fai began to take their orders.

The day is completely uneventful for the most part. Fai takes the orders of the customers and brings it to Tony. He takes the orders and prepares the food and drink, putting it on a platter that he takes out to Fai, who hands it off to Mint where he then brings it to the people that ordered. This process repeats itself many times before all 8 customers have what they ordered. As he delivered the food, Mint got a couple strange looks from some of the customers and a couple times he locked eyes with them. This would cause his heart to jump since that rude person kept giving him weird looks before he did what he did and this only makes him super nervous that someone will do the same thing or worse to him.

Luckily, nobody seemed to be looking for trouble today, and everyone was happy with what they got. A few customers did ask Mint to hurry, but they were polite about it unlike the guy from yesterday. It still made him nervous, but at least nothing bad came from it. When all of them leave, Mint and Fai go to the tables to gather plates and stuff. As they do this, they talk to each other. "No rude customers so far, things are looking better than they were at this time yesterday, right?" asks Fai.

Mint nods. "Y-yeah.. I-I hope it stays this w-way…"

She grabs a plate from the table. "I hope so too, I would rather not deal with any assholes today. I'm not in the mood for it and if someone looks at me the wrong way, I won't be afraid to call them out for it."

He gets the feeling that from those words alone, she doesn't mean that she's gonna be nice. As he grabs a plate from the table he's at, he looks up at the wall and notices a clock. It says that it's 9:30 AM and while he doesn't know what that really means, his best guess is that it's still the morning. He sighs, still a long way to go and the chance for a rude customer to appear is there.

They don't have too many plates to collect and finish up quickly. They bring the plates into the kitchen where Tony will wash them off at the end of the day. They come back out and stand at the counter by the register. The only thing they can do now is wait until more customers come in. While neither of them saw it, when one of the customers left, they ended up dropping something on the ground that's capable of tripping Mint and Fai if they're unaware of it. The worst part is that they can't see it from the counter and if one of them has to deliver food, depending on which table they have to get to, they could trip over this object and spill the food and drink all over a customer.

A few more customers come in about 20 minutes later and the same ordeal goes down as before. Unlike before though, it gets extremely busy from out of nowhere and 13 more customers appear. This isn't a problem though, because with how fast Mint, Fai, and Tony are going, all 15 customers get their orders without a hitch. Even though it isn't that hard, Mint is starting to get tired of carrying food and drink on his shoulders and his arms are starting to hurt a little. He knows that this is probably because he doesn't do this on a daily basis just yet and over time, he'll get used to it. Like before, a few customers gave him strange looks but nothing bad happened.

He's been lucky so far, very, very lucky… But unfortunately, this is about to change. As they pick up the plates from the 15 customers that were satisfied, a group of 4 new customers barge in. These people are much much different than all the other customers, they sport leather jackets, ripped jeans, and if one didn't know, they seemed to be part of a street gang from deeper in the city. The sound of the door being thrown open violently grabs the attention of both Mint and Fai, who look up to see what it was. Upon seeing this, Mint begins to breath a bit heavier and he becomes increasingly anxious. These people don't seem nice at all and instead of 1, there's 4 of them. He gets the feeling that if he does something to any of them, all of them will get involved and it could be very bad. A couple drops of sweat form on his forehead and he hurries to grab the remaining plates off the tables. After Mint and Fai give them to Tony, they go up to the counter to take their orders.

One of them is wearing sunglasses to conceal their eyes and on their jacket seems to be a strange, ground type Pokemon that looks like a Krokorok but has red skin instead. He takes his sunglasses off when he sees that Fai is tending the register. "Is this a joke? YOU'RE the cashier?" he says, his voice gruff and tough sounding.

Mint isn't the only one who is tense about these guys, Fai is too, and it doesn't seem normal for her at all in his eyes. She does her best to not sound aggressive or annoyed. "Yes, I'm the cashier. I'll take your order now." deep down, she's a bit scared. She knows who these guys are and the last time they were here, they got into an argument with her and she remembers that it almost ended with a fight.

The man tucks his hands into the pockets in his jacket. "Alright… I'm ordering for all of us ya hear? Yeah… we'll be getting 4 coffees, extra sugar and creamer, 4 breakfast specials, extra salt and pepper, ketchup on the side, and finally, 4 big biscuits with a shitload of butter, yeah?" If it was Mint doing this order, he'd have been lost after the breakfast specials. This is quite a bit for anyone but Fai handles it properly. After about a minute of punching in the order, she hands the receipt to him and he hands over the cash early. While it's not common, some customers do this to avoid having to go back to the counter and instead, can just leave. With this done, the 4 men walk over to and sit down at the table closest to the counter. This is a problem, because that thing that someone dropped earlier is near this table and when Mint goes to deliver the food, the result isn't going to be pretty.

The massive order takes about 20 minutes to be done, and unlike the rude customer from yesterday, these guys at least have the patience to wait for it. Tony comes out with two platters that are bigger than usual with everything on it. He passes it off to Fai and then before she gives it to Mint, she has to tell him something. He comes close and she whispers it to him. "Hey, you see those guys? They're part of a gang that exists deeper in the city. I know you probably won't mess anything up, but, if something bad happens, all of them are gonna go after you, so please be careful. Not to mention, these platters are a bit bigger than what you're used to so take it extra slow so you don't fall, okay?"

He nods but is scared on the inside. That bad feeling within him is peaking and he doesn't wanna know what'll happen if they're disappointed with the order. He takes the platters and balances them on his shoulders. They're much heavier like Fai said, but he's got it. He makes his way extremely slowly to the table all 4 of them are sitting at, but as he rounds the corner of the counter, he doesn't see the thing that was dropped and his foot snags it. He trips, loses his balance, and falls to the floor, the platters of food being tossed into the air but miraculously, they somehow land on the table perfectly without the food or coffee being dropped. However, this isn't taken so nicely by these 4 guys and they all turn around to see Mint on the ground. They all stand up and the guy that placed the order speaks to him. "Yo what the fuck you tryin to do? Were you about to spill that shit all over us?"

Mint thought that it all spilled on them and when he looks up to see that the food landed on the table and not a speck of it got on them, he's very surprised but he doesn't answer them. This prompts the same guy to ask again. "I'm talkin' to you! Why'd you throw our shit on the table like that?"

He's at a loss for words and stands up. He takes a step back because he now realizes that they're not so happy with this and seem quite upset with him. Fai hears all of this and looks over to see what happened. "Hey! What's the issue here?"

The guy speaks to her. "This motherfucking clumsy animal tried to ruin our leather jackets."

She's confused. "How?"

He explains. "They tried to straight up throw the food and coffee at us."

She sees that none of them are dirty. "You're all clean, nothing got on you. I don't understand why you think he-" she's cut off by one of the other guys.

"How abouts you shut the fuck up or else we'll do it for you. Nobody tries to ruin our leather and gets away with it." he says, a threatening tone in his voice which makes Fai quiet down but she keeps a close eye on them.

Mint's eyes shrink a little as the 4 dudes start to approach him. All of them look quite threatening and ready to fight. Mint begins to back up as they get closer and he hits the chair and tables behind him, making him fall again. Fai sees this and knows what's about to happen and she dreads seeing the end result. She jumps onto the counter and flies at the leader. "Get away from him right now!" she yells as she glides at him and kicks him in the head.

He stumbles a little but is very fast and manages to backhand her out of the air and onto the ground as he re-gains his balance. Believe it or not, this hit was hard enough to knock her unconscious and she simply falls to the ground and lies there, not moving at all. Mint sees this. "F-Fai!" he yells, hoping she stands up but she doesn't. He turns his attention back to the 4 guys standing in front of him.

He looks to his left and can see that he's got a clear shot to the front door and if he takes it, he might be able to escape the cafe and run away. The 4 guys notice that his eyes moved towards that direction and right as Mint makes a run for it, one of them dives in that direction to grab him but Mint reacts with insane speed and manages to jump over him, avoiding him completely, and landing on the ground safely. He takes off towards the door, the 4 dudes give chase to him and he rams the glass on the door, shattering it and breaking through. Somehow, no shards get in his fur or cut him and he jumps down from the top step onto the sidewalk where he takes off as fast as he can.

The 4 dudes blast through the door and do the same, following him but as they run, they take out weapons that they've hidden inside of their jackets. The leader's weapon is quite possibly the scariest and most dangerous of them all: a** Gun**. It isn't loaded so as he and his gang runs after Mint, he starts to load it.

Mint runs down the sidewalk deeper and deeper into "Cast Square". He jumps through gaps in people's legs and dives through open spaces as he desperately tries to shake his pursuers, but there's one issue, his outfit is slowing him down by quite a bit due to it being a dress and he's unable to take normal steps while running with it on and he has to be extremely careful otherwise he'll trip himself.

All of them blitz through Cast Square and go down one of the many streets at the end of the square and end up at the fountain plaza. Mint is unfamiliar with anything past this place and because of this, doesn't know where to go. "_Fuck! I can't go further! Where do I hide!?_" he thinks to himself as he quickly scans the entire plaza to see if there's anything that he could hide in to prevent himself from being seen. Sadly, he's unable to find anything and his group of _friends_ appears behind him.

*****"There he is! Let's fuck him up!" says the leader as he points at Mint, making him turn around to see them. They immediately run for him and prepare to attack. Mint has nowhere left to run and the only option he has is to knock them all out, but with the weapons they have in-hand, he knows he's not gonna be able to get out of this without some sort of serious injury.

One of them comes at him with a switchblade and goes to swipe at him but Mint ducks and just barely avoids being hit. He takes this moment to run away from him but is met by another one who attempts to stab him with what appears to be a broken bottle and once again, he barely avoids being hit, but this time, part of the dress gets caught on the bottle and is cut open.

Mint skids to a stop and turns around to face them. Except for the leader, all of them approach him. They insult him.

"Come here you little green insect…"

"Radioactive motherfucker, you're gonna die!"

"Let's go you filthy dick!"

He doesn't have a choice, if he doesn't fight back, chances are that they'll kill him. As much as he doesn't want to hurt humans, he has to do it. He swallows his morals and tenses his muscles up, ready to fight. The switchblade user attempts to swipe at him once again but Mint jumps back and uses "Bullet Seed" to shoot 10 seeds from his mouth at the guy's face, causing him to flinch and drop his weapon in the process.

Mint doesn't get a break though, because the third guy, with a rusty pipe, comes swinging at him. Mint tries to jump out of the way but his dress gets caught on the pipe and he's thrown into the ground, once again, the dress rips a bit more. He slides a few feet and comes to a stop, instantly standing up. He's unable to react fast enough though, and the pipe guy manages to whack him across the cheek with it, making his entire body twist in the direction it was swinging. It hurts like hell and leaves a massive mark on his cheek as well as cause some bruising too.

He ignores the pain, faces all of them, tucks his ears in, inhales as much air as he can, and lets loose a horribly echoing scream. His "Hyper Voice" attack causes all of them to drop their weapons and crouch down, covering their ears to avoid being damaged by the extremely loud scream. The attack ends and Mint has the opportunity to combo the pipe guy into another move. He runs up to the guy and using "Tail Slap", whacks him in the side, making him fall over. Mint then jumps on the guy's chest and slams his tail down on his face a few times, knocking him out after the third slam.

He jumps off him and goes for the switchblade guy but he manages to see what Mint did to his fellow gang member and right as Mint goes to use "Iron Tail", the guy whips out a small pocket knife from his jacket and impales Mint in the stomach with it as his attack lands. It knocks the guy over but Mint feels the sharp pain from the knife and jumps far back. He takes a look at where he was stabbed and through the dress, he can see that it's starting to sop up the blood coming from the wound. Luckily, this knife wasn't very long so it wasn't a deep cut, but it's still pretty bad and creates immense pain that stings him.

He looks up to see the same guy coming at him again but this time, Mint is smarter and using the move "Rock blast", he picks up a nearby stone and lobs it at the guy's face. It hits him, breaks his nose, and makes him drop the knife as he grabs his nose in response. This gives Mint the opportunity to put him down for good, so he puts his paws to his side and charges up "Focus Blast". He jumps up at the guy's face, throws his paws forwards, and the attack goes flying at him. The blue orb blows up upon impact and sends him flying into the air, landing on the ground completely knocked out.

The broken bottle guy comes up from behind and manages to impale Mint in the back with the bottle as he lands. He grunts in pain and a few tears are forced out of his eyes because of this and he responds by tucking his ears in, inhaling air, and using "Hyper Voice" right in the guy's face. The immense sound wave is so powerful at this close range that it immediately causes the guy to faint, his body not being able to handle the volume of the scream.

Mint takes the time to feel his back with his right paw and through the dress, a bit of blood soaks through it and ends up on his paw. The sharp edges of the bottle cut significantly deeper than the small knife the other guy had and he's bleeding much more now. He doesn't spend too much time with his wounds because the leader comes into view, holding his gun, locked and loaded. He snickers before taking aim. "You're quite the pest. My mates are gonna have to go to the hospital now, yeah? I hope you say your regards to satan for me you green furred rag." he then pulls the trigger on the gun.

The loud bang emitted from the gun is heard throughout most of the city, and bird Pokemon in trees that are in the slightly less crowded areas of the city to the north start yelling and crying as they take off to avoid the possible danger. People and Pokemon on the streets and sidewalks stop at the sound, trying to figure out just exactly what it was. In the fountain plaza, what seems to be a miracle has happened, the gun wielding man stands with his eyes wide open at what he sees. Mint is unaffected by the bullet and has no serious injuries from it besides a nasty black and blue mark on his forehead now.

Mint stands there, rubbing his with his forehead with his left paw. "Ow… w-what was t-that…?" he says as it stings and burns him. He takes his left paw off and notices that there's a bit of that special oil on it and he immediately realizes what happened. The bullet, while moving at an extremely high speed, was deflected by the oil on his fur. It coated the tip as it made contact with his fur and made it slip off in another direction, leaving him with only a bruise.

******The man can't believe that his gun didn't do anything to Mint, and instead of even trying again, he takes a few steps back, afraid that he's about to get hurt real bad. "O-oh Fuck t-this!" he yells as he turns tail and runs away as fast as he can. Mint watches as he runs away. He's glad he decided to run, the last thing he wanted to do was keep fighting. The adrenaline of almost getting killed winds down and in its place, he starts to feel a bit lightheaded, dizzy, and the pain from his wounds as well is felt by him. The world around him almost seems to start spinning and he takes a seat to prevent himself from falling over. He clenches his wounds as well and more blood gets on his paws.

Seeing this makes him freak out a little but he tries to focus on his breathing as best as he can. He doesn't know that he's losing more blood from his wounds than he thinks and continuing to fight after he was wounded only made it worse. He tries to keep his breathing steady and as he does this, two familiar voices are heard in the distance. "Mint! Mint! Where are you!?" the voices belong to Tony and Fai. Seems while he fought the gang members, she woke up and told Tony but they're a bit late to the scene.

Their voices seem to get louder and louder as they get closer to the plaza and about a minute later, they arrive and see him. Fai immediately flies right up to him and notices that his outfit is ripped, torn, and bloody in many spots. She looks him in the eyes. "Mint! It's me Fai!" she says, hoping he responds.

He looks at her, but is a bit out of it and his dizziness is starting to turn into drowsiness and fatigue. Tony kneels down to get a better look at him and his voice becomes extremely serious upon seeing all the blood. "He's been wounded pretty bad. Look at all the blood on his dress." he says while pointing at it.

This worries Fai. "We gotta get him to a Pokemon center!"

Tony nods and gently picks him up and he seems to go limp in his hands. Due to being such a small Pokemon, it doesn't take that much blood loss for him to start feeling the effects of it, and as such, he's fainted because of it. It's only his second day working and he's gone from having coffee poured on him to being attacked. When he wakes up in the Pokemon center, he just may have those doubtful thoughts come right back to him once again and it could be enough to make him truly think twice about what he's decided to get into.

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**PD: Hey hey hey! Mint's hurt pretty bad, but luckily, things didn't end with him being killed thanks to that special oil on his fur being able to deflect attacks! Will he awaken to second thoughts about everything that he's gone through so far or will he continue to stay in Castelia and pursue the life he's fighting for? Seeya in the next chapter!**


	24. Doubtful Once Again

**Doubtful Once Again**

Several hours after the fight Mint got into, he wakes up in a room inside the Pokemon center. His face, stomach, and back hurt him real bad and he's got a few patches of gauze on his stomach and back where he was cut up. He's still a bit lightheaded from the loss of blood but thanks to Tony and Fai quickly bringing him here, he didn't suffer from it for too long. The Nurses quickly patched him up and stopped the bleeding as best they could. He faces the ceiling with a few bright lights shining down on him, making him squint and hold his left paw up in response to block some of it out.

He's lucky to be alive, had the oil on his fur failed to protect him from the bullet that he was shot with, he'd be very much dead in the fountain plaza. He doesn't quite remember this though, and most of the fight is extremely fuzzy due to passing out at the end. He does remember being chased by those 4 men though and he raises an eyebrow as to how he ended up here. "_W-what…? I was being chased by those humans, how'd I end up here?_" he thought to himself as he slowly sat up in the recovery bed.

He opens his eyes completely now since he isn't looking at a bright light and looks at the room he's in. He recognizes where he is, the Pokemon center. He barely gets any time to think about how he ended up here because a familiar voice grabs his attention. "Mint! You're awake!" he looks in the direction he heard the voice come from and sees both Fai and Tony sitting in chairs a few feet away from him.

Fai jumps out of the chair, flies onto the bed he's on, and grabs him into a big hug. "We were so worried about you!" she doesn't know that she's hugging him a bit tighter than normal and it isn't that comfortable for him due to his wounds.

"F-Fai… y-you're hurting m-me…" he tells her through a pained and somewhat forced voice. Hearing this, she loosens up a bit and after a few seconds, stops hugging him.

"I-I'm sorry... when we found you, you were kind of catatonic and unresponsive to us. We called your name and you simply looked at us as if we had 10 heads." she says, her tone sounding more upset than usual even though he's mostly okay.

Tony walks up to the bed. "She's telling the truth. You were bleeding profusely and if we didn't find you as fast as we did, you might've been in some real bad trouble." he then clears his throat. "After what happened, I don't want you coming back to the cafe for work anytime soon. 2 weeks at the most. I don't want you getting hurt again while recovering from such terrible injuries."

He doesn't really know what he means. "W-what're you t-talking about? I-I'm hurt?" he then looks down at his stomach and notices the gauze, which makes him a bit upset. "W-what happened to me? D-didn't I run a-away?"

Fai and Tony aren't so clear on what happened. He looks at them and notices their faces seem a bit unsure. This doesn't help him understand what happened so he says out loud what he remembers. "I r-remember tripping over something and dropping the c-customer's food on the table… t-they didn't l-like that and they all tried t-to hurt me." he looks at Fai. "Y-you flew at one of t-them and tried to s-stop them from doing that, but they h-hurt you and knocked you o-out."

She nods. "Yeah… I didn't think they'd be able to do that in one hit, using a backhanded slap of all things too…"

He continues. "I-I then r-ran to avoid being h-hurt by them and I can't r-remember what happened n-next."

Tony sighs. "It's not too important, what is important is the fact that you're okay. Those people were part of a nasty gang from deeper in the city. I just hope they don't come after me or Fai in an attempt to find you because it seems like you really did a number on them as well."

Mint scratches his head with his right paw, but ends up touching the area where the bullet ricocheted off him and it stings. He grabs it with both paws in response. "...Ow… w-what the hell…"

"Here, let me see…" says Tony as he gently moves his paws away from the area with his hands, revealing the nasty black and blue mark on his head. "Ooooh… that's quite the nasty bruise." he shakes his head, disgusted with everything that's happened.

Fai looks at Mint with a bit of worry. "Are you in any pain? Can you walk?"

He stands up a bit slower than usual, some pain writing itself on his face and him grunting faintly from it but he manages to do it. "Y-yeah… I'm fine…" right as he says this, he's hit by a small dizzy spell from his blood loss and wobbles a little. Fai grabs his paws to keep him from falling over and their eyes lock with each other. This makes Mint become extremely embarrassed as this is in the presence of Tony and his cheeks quickly become a deep shade of red and he looks away.

Fai, however, isn't embarrassed or blushing. She's worried about him because he almost fell over. "Are you sure you're okay? You stood for about a second and almost fell over! I don't want you to hurt yourself on the way home…"

He nods and gives her a weak smile for a second. "I-I'll be fine… I-I just wanna go h-home already…"

"Alright. I guess we can see if they'll let you go." she says, letting him go.

Tony pulls a strange looking piece of paper out of his left pocket and places it next to Mint. "Here… since you're going to be out of work for a while, I decided to do some calculations and other stuff for your pay. I feel bad that things turned out this way, so I decided to give you what I felt like you truly deserved."

He picks the paper up and reads it. The first thing his eyes land on is a large number with a strange symbol in front of it. He reads it out loud. "370,000…"

"370K Poke. I shouldn't give you that much, but you had such terrible days and now you're injured. I hope this gets you through whatever until your injuries are fully healed up." he says.

Fai looks at him, her eyes are a bit wide. "370K!? Tony, that's insane! Are you sure you won't get in trouble for doing this!?"

He nods. "If I do, I'll explain the situation to the owner. He's very understanding so I wouldn't worry too much." he then turns to Mint. "Take that money and use it well. Whatever you need, food, water, medicine, whatever. I hope to see you when those injuries are all healed up, okay?"

Mint doesn't want to accept this, from how Fai reacted, it sounds like this is a lot of money. He shakes his head. "I-I can't… this is t-too much…"

Tony waves it off. "I said you'd get double for wearing the outfit that humiliated you and I kept my promise. The rest is because you've had such a shit week. Please take it, I can't actually take it back now, the check is already made."

Fai takes the check from Mint. "I'll deal with it." she turns to Tony. "Thanks, you didn't have to, but you did anyway." she then takes a deep breath. "I just hope you won't get in trouble for it."

He shakes his head. "It's my pleasure. I'll see you next week, okay Fai?"

"Yeah, see you then…" she says and he walks out of the room to leave. She looks down at the check, then back to Mint. "He's insane. There's no way he won't get in trouble for this."

He doesn't care and just wants to get home. "C-can we go home…?"

She nods. He stands up once again and with her help, hand-in-hand, they hop down from the bed and slowly walk out to where the receptionist desk is. They give Mint the green light to leave but advise that he stay away from any battles or strenuous activity for a little while until his wounds recover. This is something Fai expected them to say and with that out of the way, they slowly make their way out of the Pokemon center.

They brought Mint to the Pokemon center in the old district since there's a path straight there from the fountain plaza that would allow them to bypass all the crowds in "Cast Square". Hand-in-hand, they slowly walk out of the old district, along the way, Fai has something to tell him. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but when I woke up from that attack, a customer came in and said that they saw you being chased by those men and one of them had a gun…"

He doesn't know what a gun is. "W-what's a g-gun?"

She sighs and looks down. She doesn't want to tell him because it'll lead into what could've happened if certain things didn't fall into play. She sucks it up though because at the end of the day, she'll have to tell him one way or the other. She looks back up at him and she gives him a rather sharp look. "A Gun is a type of weapon. It can **kill you if the shot hits your heart or your brain**."

Silence falls and Mint seems to go a bit pale as if he's seen a ghost. Fai's sharp look turns into a very sad one. "They were looking to **kill you**. Somehow, you didn't die though. I don't know what happened for you to avoid a bullet, but me and Tony heard a gunshot and we thought the worst had happened…"

A shadow falls over his face and the thoughts that he stopped worrying about suddenly come back to him in a fury. The doubt that coming here was a good idea, that it's exactly the life that he's looking for, it hits him across the face and he wakes up. Reality is speaking to him and hearing that someone tried to kill him makes him think of what happened the day he left the colony. His bullies were on the lookout for him because they wanted to kill him too, and with the "Hyper Voice" he let loose moments before he ran, the entire colony would've probably tried to kill him as well.

He tenses up a little and in the process, tightens his grip on Fai's hand as well. She takes note of this and becomes worried. "Mint, Is something wrong?" she looks at his face and notices that it's darkened out a little by this weird shadow. The last time she saw this, he was looking at something in the distance and it ended up making him really upset for a while. She doesn't want this to happen to him again, so, even though he didn't answer her, she decides to ask again. "Mint, are you okay? Is something wrong?"

He doesn't answer her and simply ignores her. He can't believe what he heard. The last two days built up to everything that happened today and it's almost a perfect mirror of the events that went down back at the colony with a few differences. He fought Patricia and ended up getting hurt, his father ended up trying to fight someone and got real hurt that same day. The day after, he found a Shiny stone, evolved, and then found out that his bullies wanted to kill him because he evolved.

Yesterday, he got into a big fight with some Pokemon who were harassing Fai, who ended up getting knocked out by them when she tried to defend herself. The next day, he was picked on at work and insulted by a customer. Today, he was not only picked on and insulted, but he got badly injured and could've died if it wasn't for the oil on his fur. He can't understand how the last few days could come so close to what happened at the colony, it's too coincidental. "_How is this possible? I ended up getting into a fight that caused someone to get seriously injured in the process, I've been picked on, and now, almost killed for doing the job I was told to do… It's almost like everything that happened back at the colony…! Is this meant to be? Am I truly destined to be harassed and hurt my entire life? Why are these things happening to me?_" he says to himself under his breath so Fai doesn't hear him.

He doesn't know what to think anymore. Before, he just wasn't understanding his feelings and doubts, but now, there's more to it. The recent events that he's gone through are too close to stuff from the past and he can't let it slide anymore. Fai looks at him, worried about what's going through his mind. He's been through quite a lot over the last few days and she doesn't want him to retreat back into the shell he's had since she met him. She doesn't want him to become depressed over what happened, so as they ascend the stairs to her apartment, she plans to talk to him about everything, including the reason why he came to Castelia in the first place once they get inside. She pushes the door open, enters, and he follows, closing the door behind him. She takes a small breather for a moment, then turns around to initiate the conversation but he's already gone. She hears the door to the guest bedroom close and she turns her head to face it. "_Great… I'm not gonna have any chance to talk to him, aren't I?_" she thinks to herself as she walks into the kitchen, places Mint's check on the table, then goes over to the guest bedroom door and knocks on it with her right hand. "Mint, open up, I wanna ask you something."

No response. She knocks again. "Mint… C'mon, I need to talk to you…" Yet again, no response. She sighs, there's no use in trying to force him to talk if he doesn't want to. She turns her body away from the door slightly getting ready to leave, but she looks at it for a few more seconds, hoping that he'll be okay and will come out a few hours later before turning away and going to the couch. She takes a seat but instead of turning the TV on like she usually does, she places her hands on her chin and hunches over, trying to figure out what it is that's been bothering him this whole time.

* * *

8 hours later, the sun has gone down but Castelia City itself isn't gonna be sleeping anytime soon. Such a large city has to uphold its reputation as "The city that never sleeps" and currently, it does just that. Even amidst the darkness, people and Pokemon commute to where they have to go. The streets are busy, neon signs light the night, electronic billboards cast the light of advertised products onto the streets below, and the glow of lights from the inside of the buildings shines through gaps in the blinds in the windows.

During this time, Fai didn't hear anything from Mint, his voice couldn't be heard from behind the door and chances are that he could be sleeping now since it's getting to be around that time. She sits on the couch, playing the game console in the hopes that it would take her mind off him. It helps a little, but because she's extremely worried about him, the game isn't able to fully distract her. The game she's playing is very hard, it involves your character going on a big quest. Along the way, they fight tons of monsters and massive bosses as they get closer and closer to the end. The people and Pokemon who made this game, however, made it where the enemies do major damage and many of them are able to kill you in one hit.

As she dodge rolls to avoid an attack, another monster comes from behind and with a strong blow, kills her in one hit instantly. This is something that's happened many times during her playthrough but this one seems to do her in. She presses a button on the controller and the console's main menu shows up. She navigates to an icon that looks like a power button, selects it, and the console shuts down. She waits for a few seconds, then tosses the controller on the table. She sighs and looks over at the guest bedroom door. "_He's been in there for over 8 hours… It's possible he went to sleep but if he didn't, is he okay in there?_" she thought to herself as she stood up off the couch and slowly walked over to it. She places her right hand on the knob and attempts to turn it, but like she thought, he locked it from the inside and she can't open it from the living room without a key. She frowns and then places her hands on her hips. "_I gotta get him to come out somehow, I don't want him to stay hidden like this forever, it's not good for his health in any shape or form_." she thinks to herself as she starts to pace back and forth across the living room, trying to remember where she put the key.

In the room, Mint had fallen asleep, but the thoughts he had before he ended up falling asleep had transcended into the dream world he's in. What should be a somewhat bright and cheerful dreamscape is reduced to a dull, dark, lonely world that reflects his inner turmoil. Ironically, he finds himself standing in the middle of Pinwheel Forest, but everything about it is much different than usual. There's no sound, none of the leaves and grasses are moving, the sky seems to be an endless black void, and there's no wind. His dream self finds it difficult to breath, and it feels like he could suddenly start choking and suffocating at any moment here.

Behind him is nothing but more forest, but it goes on for as far as the eye can see, something the real Pinwheel forest doesn't do. He doesn't have much of a choice, and he starts to walk down the path towards what can only be assumed to be the colony. The walk is long and silent, the only thing his dream self hears is his own heavy breathing. The closer he gets to the colony, the harder and harder it gets to breath. A suffocating force of epic proportions lies ahead, but why? Is this the doubt that's been bottled up inside of him for all this time, or is it the guilt of what he possibly caused towards the ones that loves, appreciates, and accepts him? There's no clear answer to this and as he walks, he notices that the den he used to call home is nowhere to be found. He stands in front of the spot where it should be, but there's nothing there except for grass, dirt, and a tree occupying the space. In this depressing, lonely world, his home no longer exists. He attributes this to the fact that Castelia City is his new home, but after what happened today and the last few days, his doubts have been stronger than ever on staying for much longer. He turns back to the path and keeps walking, the brush starting to clear up and the first few dens of the colony come into view and that suffocating feeling becomes relentless.

To breath now is a chore, it feels like he's lifting an Aggron with his lungs now and it scares him quite a bit. Regardless, he pushes on, curious to see what it is that the colony has in store for him. He slowly walks, getting closer and closer to the fountain plaza. He reaches it but the moment he steps foot near the fountain, he's suddenly met with the sound of odd howling. It doesn't sound like the Herdier or Stoutland that live nearby and it scares him a little. He looks around to see if there's anyone else there, but nobody's there but him. The suffocating feeling loosens up quickly and his breathing returns to normal but he starts to hear voices whispering to him. He can barely make out what they're saying but some of them come in clearly and he makes them out to be insults that've been said to him in the past. There's too many voices to focus on and they start to surround him. He looks around quickly, trying to figure out what the hell is going on and where those voices are coming from. They start to get louder but nobody shows themselves to him. He takes a few steps back and he starts to get a panicky feeling forming in his gut, the voices sound like they're right in his ears and he grabs them, folding them over to try and block out the sound but it does nothing. He falls to his knees and starts to shake, sweat pouring from his head and dripping down to his chin and falling off. The voices get super loud and tears form in his eyes. He can't stand it and yells out into the darkness. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" but this only makes the voices get furious and in response, they start yelling at him. His entire body falls to the ground, including his head. He clenches it with both paws and he growls. "G-GET OUT…. GET OUUUUUUUT!" the voices violently assault him and destroy him verbally. Tears drop from his eyes and through his water blurred vision, he sees what he thinks is his bullies surrounding him. One of them points at him and speaks.

"You're dead Mint, consider this a favor since you don't have a purpose to live anymore. Good riddance forever."

They all hold their paws up and right as they slam down on him, he wakes up in the bed. He shoots up and quickly looks around the semi-dark room, expecting to be attacked by someone but once his panicked body realizes that there's nobody here but him, he relaxes a little and sits back down on the bed. It was all a dream, a nightmare to be more exact, and one that scared him quite a bit. His heart is pounding and as he puts his left paw up to where it is on his chest, he can feel it. He takes a deep breath and exhales, trying to calm down. "I-it's just a d-dream… t-that's not g-gonna happen…" he says to himself quietly. He repeats this a few times and he manages to calm down.

The door knob suddenly starts to turn and this grabs his attention, making him panic slightly. He prepares to fight if he has to but the door opens and Fai stands there with the key in her left hand. She holds a face of total worry and the light from inside the living room shines in, seems she managed to remember where it was. Mint takes a massive breath of relief. It's just her, and even though it was only her, it scared the living hell out of him. She notices that he seems to be in a bit of distress. "Mint, are you okay?"

He's kept quiet for all this time, but now that she's here, he doesn't wanna seem nasty so he speaks up. "Y…. Y-yeah… I… I just had a pretty bad nightmare…" he then hops out of bed and slowly walks over to the doorway.

She has a frown on her face, her eyes and tone reflect the worry she has for him. "You were in here for more than 8 hours, I was getting worried that you weren't gonna come back out."

"No… I-I just fell a-asleep. I-I don't think I-I'm gonna be a-able to go back t-to sleep a-after this…" his tone is a bit shaky, nervous, and slightly upset.

She walks up to him and puts her arm around his left shoulder and coaxes him out of the room and into the living room. She speaks softly to him. "Nightmares are the worst shit ever. I don't know what kind of nightmare you had, but it must've been really bad for you to be like this…" she then gently wipes a bit of sweat from his forehead with her left hand. Being touched like this and having her so close to him makes him a bit embarrassed and he blushes a little from it. She notices this and while she would usually poke him in the cheek or nose, she decides not to do that this time. They both walk over to the couch and sit down. Mint situates himself so that his tail wraps around the lower half of his body while Fai sits facing him. Once again, silence falls between the two of them and with the terrible nightmare that Mint just had, he further delves into his doubts yet again. The question that he's asked himself since that day he met Fai comes back again and still has no clear answer. Was it really a mistake to come here after everything that's happened? His past life continues to haunt him and it seems with every passing day, worse things happen to him. He sits there with his his face buried in his tail, trying to understand just exactly what it all means.

* * *

**PD: The doubt sets in once again, except much worse. Is this going to be the end for Mint's time in Castelia City, or will he continue to live among his doubts? Find out in the next chapter! Seeya then!**


	25. My Story, New Perspective

**PD: Just a big heads up, this chapter is quite long so if you get lost, there will be a quick summary all the way at the end. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**My Story, New Perspective**

Three days go by… During those 3 days, Mint's wounds started to heal rapidly and the bruise on his head disappeared, now it looks as if nothing ever happened to him. Along with his wounds healing, he also had plenty of time to think deeply about his doubts, feelings, and thoughts on everything that's happened so far. With all this time, he expected to come up with a logical answer for it all, but instead of any answers, he ended up with more questions. He knows for a fact that his past life is haunting him and interjecting itself into his current life. The events that took place during the week in Castelia weren't just coincidental anymore and it all happened because something doesn't want him to continue down this road. Some unknown force… that same suffocating feeling that he had in that nightmare… perhaps they are the same thing and it's trying to tell or show him something but he's blind and deaf to it. It doesn't matter, because at this very moment in time with the sky filled with light grey clouds, he's going to have to make a decision on whether or not he should stay at some point in the near future. He can't continue to be set back by this unstoppable force, eventually it will kill him seeing as how it tried to kill him by using those gang members. He was lucky that there was oil on his fur to deflect the bullet, otherwise he wouldn't be standing on the awning of Fai's apartment, looking at the cloud filled sky.

He thought long and hard about the events that went down and compared it to everything that happened back in the colony. While the outcome of some of the events were a bit different, the end result was similar in many ways. The first fight he got into after arriving in the city, Fai ended up getting hurt, and when he fought Patricia back at the colony, he ended up getting hurt. The fight he got in a few days ago with those gang members ended up causing him to be seriously wounded and needed to go to the Pokemon center to heal up. His father fought Brian and ended up getting seriously injured and required similar medical attention. As for the customer that poured their coffee all over him and insulted him, along with everything the others said to him during the fights, it all comes full circle with some of the insults that were said to him back in the colony. If this isn't proof of his past haunting him, then he doesn't know what is.

The worst part of this all, is that he's not getting what he hoped he would get when he left the colony. He's not loved by anyone, in fact, they all seem to hate him, he's not accepted as a Cinccino and instead, seen as something completely different and unusual, finally, it seems that nobody appreciates what he did for them when looking at what happened that day he got hurt and how they could've just accepted what happened. These thoughts are what currently reside in his head, and as he looks at the slightly depressed sky, he continues to try and figure it all out to no avail. He sighs, lost at this point with no clear direction on what he should do. "_Now what…? If I continue to stay here, everything is simply going to get worse and worse until something takes me out. If I go back, I'll be killed on sight for what I've done and what I've become. They'll fear me getting back at them when there's no use in trying to spite those that have years of pain stacked onto me. No matter which option I choose, I'm going to be killed one way or the other_."

Similar to how he sat on the couch with Fai that night when he had the terrible nightmare, he's wrapped his tail around the lower half of his body and buried his face into it. His ears are drooped a bit and his eyes are half open and to complete the look, he's frowning as well. He took the bandages and gauze off him yesterday because he wanted to see if the wounds were healing and to his surprise, they were almost fully healed. His body looks as if it never came into contact with those sharp weapons, it's pristine and perfect once again. It doesn't matter, he knows the next fight or brutal beating he's going to get is just around the corner waiting for him, so why feel great about being all healed up when it's simply going to get ruined.

He blinks a few times, then changes what he's looking at to be the ground instead of the sky. "_Speaking of bad things happening to me, the next person or Pokemon in this city is waiting for me to walk out into the streets so they can attack or belittle me… I know it will happen, it's happened before and it will happen again…_" he whispers to himself. He knows better, but it's not like he's got anywhere to go, Tony said for him to not come back for 2 weeks just to make sure that he's fully healed up and ready to work again. Work. Like that was ever a good thing for him in the first place. "_Being confined in that cafe is just begging for someone to walk in and hurt me… it's not worth going back there at all, I'd rather take my chances walking around the streets instead._" he says to himself again.

The sound of the apartment doorknob turning catches his attention and he looks down to see who it is. The door opens and Fai comes out, she's looking for him for some reason and she calls out to him. "Mint! Are you out here!?"

As much as he wants to be left alone to think about all of this, he can't ignore her. She's been a big help to him since he arrived in Castelia and it wouldn't be right to do that to her. He responds in a low tone. "I-I'm up here… on t-the awning…"

Hearing his voice, she turns around and looks up at it. She raises an eyebrow. "What the hell are you doing up there?" she asks.

"Thinking…" he says quietly, almost to the point that it couldn't be heard due to the sounds coming from the street but Fai has good hearing and she hears this.

"Thinking… about what?"

"...E-everything…"

"Everything? I don't get what you mean by that."

He sighs. "You wouldn't understand… y-you're not the one dealing w-with it…"

Her tone changes, becoming a bit more serious. "Maybe I can understand it…"

He shakes his head slightly. He raises his voice ever so slightly, the fact that she's trying to understand what he believes she won't be able to understand makes him a bit upset, combined with the fact that he's already upset by everything that's happened so far. "N-No… You won't u-understand…!"

She puffs the right side of her cheek out for a second before jumping up and gliding onto the awning where she lands to the right of him and takes a seat. She picks the conversation up again after she situates herself comfortably. "You're right, I won't understand unless you tell me, silly. So why don't you tell me, what is it that you're REALLY thinking about?"

He closes his eyes and presses his head deeper into his tail, it now covers most of his face and will muffle his voice if he decides to speak, and that's exactly what he does. He says something along the lines of her not being able to understand what he's going through because while she's lived a terrible life herself, she can never comprehend what he's gone through. She doesn't understand a single word of what he said because of his muffled voice. She chuckles, trying to ease him up a little. "Mint, I didn't understand anything that you said. Please take your face out of your tail so I can hear you better."

He doesn't want to. Even after everything that she's done for him, he STILL doesn't fully trust her, but at the same time, he's not going to be able to make her go away and while he doesn't trust her, a very small part of him says something different. She's given him a place to stay, she's tried to help him get through some of the darker days he's had, hell, she's trying right now! She took him under her literal wing and showed him around the city, she's taken care of him, helped him get a job, and even saved him from what could've been a bad situation after the fight he was in a few days ago. He stays silent, but in his head, he's conflicted. "_I don't know… She's helped me so much over the last few days… would it really be right to keep it locked down in secret from her anymore? She's kept her word on everything she's said, she's never hurt me or threatened me, nor has she ever had the intent to do that. Am I wrong to continue doubting her of all Pokemon now?_"

His thoughts are slightly interrupted by her kicking her feet up and down slightly. They hit the top of the awning lightly and make a small 'bang' sound with each kick. She looks at him. "Well? Are you going to tell me so I understand, or are you going to keep being uptight and closed off? I can sit here all day, I don't have work until tomorrow, so…"

His expression changes to have a serious look about it. "_No… I… I have to say something… it's not right, she told me her story and everything about her life, including stuff that she said she usually never says to anyone else. I guess she must've trusted me more than anyone else for her to tell me everything. I can't keep being reclusive like this… she's right."_ He takes a deep breath, unwraps his tail from his body, looks at her, and prepares to tell her everything he's been holding in since day 1.

"You… you really want to know?" his voice, while serious and upset at the same time, is suddenly much more confident than usual, almost as if in that short moment, he managed to overcome something that he's been dealing with this entire time. It surprises her, but she can't let this show and instead she nods 'yes', also placing her full attention on him now.

He exhales, relaxes a bit, and then breaks out into what she knew he'd eventually tell her, but what she's about to hear is something that's completely different from what she thought it was going to be, something far more deeper than anything, and in her eyes, worse than what she experienced when growing up. He begins. "You… you told me to tell you my story when I first came here, but I didn't trust you enough. Even when you showed yourself to be trustworthy, I still didn't see you as someone I could trust. You even shared your entire life story to me, all the personal bits as well. I bet most Pokemon you've met in your life weren't trustworthy enough for you to reveal everything. You must trust me more than anyone, perhaps even more than Scott, but I'll never know, I'm not you. Unlike you, I'm not as trusting of others, it probably stems from everything I've gone through in my life, and because of this, I feel a little bad that I've gone this long without being able to really entrust you with anything from my personal life… I hope you aren't upset by that."

She stays silent but is ready to take in everything he's about to say. He continues. "You've shown me that you're quite trustworthy, and while I still don't know what to think, I know that it's not right to keep this a secret from you anymore… My life… it's the reason I came to Castelia, but there's much more to it than being in a toxic environment or living with parents who have constant issues." He looks up and out across the ocean, looking towards the direction of Pinwheel forest. "As you already know, I'm a Cinccino with an unnatural fur color. The mint-green fur I have is very rare and as far as I know, I'm the only one of my kind with such a color in the world. I'm different, but in the eyes of the other Minccino I used to live with, this wasn't a good difference. My parents probably even hated it in the beginning, but I remember being taken to see someone… someone who would shed light on the strange fur color I have…" for the first time in many days, the pendant around his neck and scarf begins to glow brightly and emit sparkles.

"The colony elder, she was also a Cinccino. She was wise, kind, understanding, but most of all, had a pure heart. When I was a very young Minccino, about 1 year old, my parents took me to see her and from what I remember, she said that I was as normal as any other Minccino in the colony. I was simply born with a very rare fur color that hasn't been seen in hundreds of years, possibly even thousands. I don't remember much from that time, but I guess she might've also said a few other things to them because as I grew up, my parents had an unusual amount of patience. When I was old enough, I was allowed to see the other young Minccino that lived in the colony. Instead of them being nice to me, they made fun of me and picked on me. I would come home, hurt and upset, but my parents would help me. They'd dry my tears and say that I should be proud of my fur color, be happy that I'm different, and that one day I'd be the one to have his pick of the litter, but that's not the case. As I grew up, being made fun of turned into straight bullying, and recently, that turned into being kicked, punched, attacked, and even spat on. Some days I'd come home just plain upset, other days I'd limp my way home, only to lick my wounds and wake up the next day, knowing that I might be in for another beating."

She's in awe over what she's hearing, but he's not done and her shock will continue to grow. "Only my parents loved, appreciated, and accepted me for who and what I was. Everyone else in the colony didn't. They hated me, they wanted me to leave and never come back. Those that didn't bully me, which was most of the other adult Minccino, would ignore me and pretend that I didn't exist if I went up to one of them and tried to talk to them. Nobody wanted anything to do with me and nobody wanted to be associated with what was considered a "hybrid Minccino" when they simply didn't understand that I had a very rare fur color. The bullies even mocked it, saying that the only other fur color that was "acceptable" was pink, the shiny variant. I couldn't get a break from it, and all I wanted was to be loved, accepted, and appreciated by everyone else. I wanted to be normal…! I wanted to have a regular life, being a Minccino with grey fur and not having to worry about being bullied or hurt or anything like that. I wanted to be like them, but instead, I've been given the complete opposite. I'm not proud of my fur color, and I'm not happy to be different than everyone else, it just got me hurt."

He sighs, this trip through his life is making him upset as well, but he keeps going strong. "Had I not lashed out and attacked one of the bullies because they talked bad about my parents, maybe things would be different and I wouldn't be here right now. I could be back home, still a Minccino, dealing with the usual shit I deal with but at least I'd still have my parents to go back to. They'd continue to dry my tears and help keep me going, but, I don't have that anymore…" his expression loosens up and he takes on a somewhat hopeless and sad look. "I got into a fight with that same bully, but because I knew that if I beat them up, the rest of the colony would come after me so I allowed her to defeat me. She broke my nose and someone from another colony in the forest found me and took me back home since they were friends with my parents. In response to this, my father tried to battle the father of the bully, and in the process, was seriously injured. Me and my mom had to take him to Nacrene city to get him help and afterwards, I ran home because I caused him to end up like that."

He takes a few breaths, he spoke for quite a long time, but after he breathes, he continues. "The next day, I ended up finding a Shiny stone and against my will, I evolved into what I am now. Unfortunately for me, this was a fatal thing, because in my colony, we had lost the elder I had mentioned earlier and she was supposed to give one of the members a shiny stone, but it was stolen from her and because of that, there was no elder and the tradition says that if anyone were to find a shiny stone and come back as a Cinccino, regardless of age, they'd be the next elder. Nobody would've wanted that, and when my bullies found out about the shiny stone being used because I left it at home to go do something, came back, and overheard them talking about killing me if they found me to prevent me from becoming the elder and making rules that would get back at them for everything they did to me over the years. This hurt me in more ways than one, and with my parents, the only ones that I could trust, stuck in Nacrene city, I had nobody to help push me forwards. I gave into my fears and In response, I screamed, used my "Hyper Voice" attack and I'm sure everyone heard it and went to investigate what it was. Before they could find me, I ran away. I ran through the colony and left, heading for the Skyarrow bridge and, as you can guess, Castelia city."

He shakes his head, the memories of what happened the day he left are still vivid and tears form in his eyes but he stays strong. "I came here because I heard from Pokemon that came from the city that they got new beginnings there, and their lives had changed for the better upon arriving. I wanted my life to change, I wanted to escape the pain, sadness, and suffering forever. I wanted to be loved, accepted, and appreciated by those around me and I hoped that coming to Castelia, after hearing the rumors, would do just exactly that, but no… Instead of that, I've been doubting myself ever since I came here after meeting you. Everything that's happened, the fight with the Garbodor that ended up with you getting hurt, the customer pouring hot coffee on me, the gang members attacking me, and everything those three people and Pokemon ended up saying to me… It all just reminds me of what I had back at home. Nobody appreciates me there and nobody appreciates me here now, nobody accepted me there, and nobody accepts me now, and nobody loved me there, and nobody loves me here. It's the same exact thing…!" his tone begins to deepen with anger. "I ran away from home to escape from those things! I thought I could run away and change my life, but instead of that, everything that I ran away from simply chased me down like a fucking predator and continued to attack me!" he growls for a second before calming down. "...I don't know what to do… If I go back, I'll be killed, and If I stay here, I'll eventually be killed if my past life continues to insert itself into what I've got now…" he stops, this is the end of his story.

Fai is blown away. She never expected such a story and thinking about what he went through, being bullied his entire life, it's sad. She wants to say something but she has a feeling that she should be careful with what she says. She can't come up with anything on the spot so she stays silent. She thought that perhaps he was just living somewhere that was bad and he wanted to leave it and start over, she didn't expect what he told her.

Mint wraps the lower half of his body with his tail once again and buries his face in it. He's said what she wanted to hear from him since the beginning, and while it did ease up a bit of the stress that was pent up inside him, it didn't relieve all of it and he's still thinking about what to do now. Fai can see that he's in desperate need of help, and even though she doesn't know if it would be the best idea for her to tell him what she's starting to think of in her head, she sees it as better than sitting here and doing nothing. "Mint… if… if I knew about this sooner, maybe all of this wouldn't have happened." she says while twiddling her thumbs.

He picks his head up slightly from his tail, his voice has gone back to its usual tone and somewhat nervous stutter. "...w-what do you mean?"

She looks down at her hands. "...I thought you came here for something much different than what you told me. Your life… for all those years you've been bullied, beaten, hated, and thrown around… I thought I had a rough life." she then chuckles. "It just goes to show that sometimes there are people and Pokemon who've had it worse than you did. In my eyes, what had happened to me felt like the end of the world at times. I can only imagine what it's like to be constantly harassed, bullied, and beaten… it must be awful."

Her sympathy is nice, but it pales in comparison to the pain he's experienced. She looks back at him. "If I knew you were hurt this much, perhaps I might've been able to say something to help you…" she thinks about it for a second, a little hesitant but she decides it's for the better. She stands up and puts her hands on her hips. "Mint, look at me and listen closely."

He looks up at her, her expression has changed and she seems like she's about to tell him something that might be very important. His full attention is on her now. She speaks. "I… I don't really know what to say to make things better for you, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try. I don't want to see you upset, I hate seeing that." she stops for a moment, then continues. "I don't know if you're familiar with different views on things, something that's called a perspective. Have you heard of different perspectives?"

He nods 'yes' but is a bit confused as to where she's going with this. He stays silent though and she keeps going. "Okay, that makes this a bit easier to explain then. I know what you've said is terrible and nobody should ever have to live a life like that, being constantly bullied and shit… but you lived that life. Some say that bullying is all bad, and I would never side with those who bully others for fun, but sometimes, bullying can have positive effects on the one that's being bullied. You may not see it like this, but perhaps after I explain it all to you, you might see it like that, or not, everyone has a different perspective on everything after all."

She clears her throat, takes a couple breaths, then begins to explain it. "You're Mint the Cinccino, and at this very moment in time, you stand in front of me with the following personality traits that I've seen. You're very shy, socially awkward, easily embarrassed, you have a kind heart and will help others around you if they need it, but above all, I see someone who doesn't even acknowledge what they are, and that's a problem. Think about what I'm saying. If you weren't bullied…. If you were born a normal Minccino with regular fur… if you never went through any of the life experiences that you went through… would you be here sitting in front of me?"

He thinks about this for a moment. She continues. "Hell, do you think you'd be the same Minccino or Cinccino that you are at this very moment? Would you have the name "Mint"? **Would you have even been born?**"

These questions are all valid, and as he's about to open his mouth to give his answer, she puts her right hand up with one finger pointed up to silence him. "Ah! I don't want to hear the answer, I don't need to know!" she puts her hand back on her hip. "That's right… we may not have ever met, nor would you have ever come to Castelia. You might be a completely different Pokemon… you could've been born a human, or even an alien for that matter! If it wasn't for everyone bullying you, hating you, and not acknowledging your existence, you wouldn't have grown up into the Pokemon that's sitting in front of me right now. Your bullies helped shape you and your personality. By being insulted, you grew distant from others and slowly but surely, you started to have issues talking to anyone that wasn't your parents and you'd become easily embarrassed in most social situations. By being beaten up and having very few friends, if any, you grew up to only trust someone once they've proven to you that they can be trusted and that they won't try to pull a quick one on you. Underneath that prickly outer shell of yours is someone that's soft all over and full of love and affection, at least, that's what I want to believe. You only show your true self off to those that you can trust, and anyone who manages to gain your trust should consider themselves lucky. They cracked the code and are a true friend to you, being able to endure the trial of the spiky shell and break through to reach the soft interior. I've seen it myself, when I first met you, you were almost dead silent and didn't want to speak to me that much, let alone at all. You fully opened up to me moments ago and told me something that you said you couldn't tell me on day 1 because you didn't trust me."

She nods and gives him a smile. "You see? Because of what they did to you, you grew up into Mint the Cinccino! There's nobody else in this world that's like you and if you were "normal" and "just like everyone else" you wouldn't be who you are right now! You might be one of those assholes on the road that looks for hot Pokemon to bang all day, or you could be one of those rich fucks who only speak to people with money! I don't know, you could be anything for all I care but the point is that you would never be who you are today!" She's onto something with this, and as he listens to her, the pendant around his neck seems to slowly glow brighter and brighter with each passing minute. He keeps listening to her, interested in what she has to say next. "As for what you said about not being loved, accepted, or appreciated, you're wrong!"

He immediately raises an eyebrow and goes to speak but she silences him again like she did before. "No! Don't say anything!" she puts her hand down and continues. "You had EVERYTHING you wanted, but it wasn't quite what you wanted at the same time. You said you wanted love, appreciation, and acceptance... You ended up getting it, but not the positive form that I'm thinking you're longing for. You've got the negative version of it, Mint. Life isn't black and white, there aren't only two sides to everything, there's a rainbow that makes up our lives, and what I said before about the bullying falls into that rainbow as well. It's not fully bad, nor is it completely good, it's everything at once! Even though what you have is negative, there's still positive things to be found in it! In order for those bullies to do what they do and bully you, they have to love, accept, and appreciate you. They love to hate you, as well as love seeing you broken down and crying, they appreciate being able to insult someone like you because there's nobody else for them to insult, and they accept that you're different but it's good news for them since they can use it to better themselves, while it's bad news for you since you're on the receiving end of it! Since they have to worry about what they'll say and have to put care into their insults to get a reaction out of you, they have some form of love, appreciation, and acceptance for you! It might not be the type that you're looking for, but you've still got it regardless."

She throws her hands up over her head. "You had everything! All of this put together makes the life that you've been wanting to live, and you ran away from all of it!" she then puts her hands down and her expression rapidly changes to be serious. "Now… you're questioning and doubting the choice you made to run away from home, wherever that was, to try and get "a better life" that hasn't really turned out much better than when you were living back at home. You have two options logically. Your first option is to stay in Castelia, and like you said, have your past life continue to "haunt" and "hunt" you down until it takes you out. The other option is to go back to the place you ran away from, face whatever it is that's going to come at you, and regardless of what it is, face it with your newfound knowledge and maybe things won't be as bad as you think they'll be."

She wipes her forehead. "Phew! That was a lot to take in… I hope you got that all…" she stretches herself out for a second and then walks to the edge of the awning. "I don't know if you'll fully see it the way I see it, for all I know, you're so far gone in those thoughts that you can't see it being different. In any case, think about it. Maybe it'll grow on you and give you the answer that you're looking for. I'm going inside, so if you need something, just holla for me." she then jumps down from the awning, walks up the steps, opens the door, and enters her apartment but leaves the door open just a crack so he can come in if he needs something like she said.

He sits there, his mind has been opened to this new view on his life, and as unexpected as it was, perhaps this was exactly what he was looking for to help him arrive at his answer.

* * *

A couple hours or so later, the light grey clouds have thickened quite a bit and the wind has started to blow a bit more than usual. Something real nasty is approaching and in an hour or so, it will be here and anything caught in its path might have quite the bad time. The sky is darker than earlier and if one didn't know, it's not looking too good.

Mint, after some serious thinking about what Fai said, decided to go inside and think some more in the guest bedroom. Unlike yesterday, he's keeping the door open in the event Fai has to ask him something. He lies on the bed, arms and feet stretched out. His doubts are starting to clear up and with the new perspective that Fai brought to him, he's starting to realize that everything she said is true.

"_If I wasn't bullied, I wouldn't be socially awkward, shy, quiet and reserved, and I wouldn't have trust issues with other people and Pokemon. She's right in that sense, and if I wasn't born the way I was I born, a Minccino with mint-green fur, none of this would've happened and I wouldn't be who I am today. I might not have liked being bullied and beaten, but without that, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd probably be normal like I said, and I might not even have the things I have right now either."_ he stares at the ceiling as his mind continues to think about what she said to him. It's starting to make much more sense and his doubts are fading rapidly. "_Life ISN'T black and white. Not everything is fully good or bad like Fai said, if that were true, then I might not be here lying on the bed thinking about all of this…_" he decides to randomly grab his pendant with his left paw and he holds it up. To his surprise, it's glowing brighter than ever before and radiating a copious amount of sparkles, and, for the first time ever, there seems to be streaks of light shining out of it, which is something he's never seen it do before.

He stares at it for a few seconds, trying to figure out what would be causing it to glow and sparkle like this. He looks at it longingly, his eyes start to burn, his mind goes numb, and everything around him turns to black but the pendant lights the void. He keeps his gaze held on it and it seems to glow brighter and brighter. The sparkles coming off the surface and the streaks of light are mesmerizing and right as he's about to put it down, it hits him. He gasps, his eyes go wide, and his mouth drops open as wide as it can go.

He didn't see it before, he would've never seen it before if he kept going down this path. He saw the pendant do this to him when he asked himself the question, and it would always glow in response. Was it trying to answer the question all this time? Is the answer staring him right in the face at this very moment? He nods, his eyes gaining an intense look about them. Perhaps he thought it would do this in a different form, but now that he knows which form it uses, it won't go unnoticed anymore. "_Y-You've been trying to tell me this whole time…! Naomi… I should've known… when you said the pendant would guide me, you weren't talking about a physical manifestation coming to me, telling me what I need to know. The guidance isn't in the form of your soul, but rather…_" He remembers something that she told him when he first saw her.

"_**Life isn't always about those you've grown to know, but sometimes, it's about those you meet along the way.**_"

He smiles. The guidance that he was looking for was next to him the whole time. Fai. She was the missing piece of the puzzle. She had the answer he was looking for. He would've gotten this answer had he told her earlier, but the saying "Better late than never" couldn't be more true at this moment in time. _"Along the way through this entire life journey, I've encountered nice people and Pokemon, like Scott, Fai, and Tony. I've also encountered bad people and Pokemon, like my bullies, the rude customers at the cafe, and that Garbodor and his friends. All of them have placed their own keys into the puzzle, be it through insults, help, or advice. The final key was staring me in the face since day 1, and if I trusted Fai more, I would've been able to figure the answer out much earlier._"

He grips the pendant tightly, not because of anger, but from a feeling that he's a bit unfamiliar with. A feeling full of positivity, energy, and hope. Some may call it the ability to persevere, others may simply call it strength, but in times of crisis, some may say they're determined to see something through to the end. This feeling, determination, now beats to life within him and with his mind set on his next course of action, his doubts are gone, and he has the answer he needs. His smile is wide and with no time to lose, he jumps off the bed and leaves the room. He's gonna tell Fai what he plans to do and once he does, the stage will be set and his final moments will truly begin, but what he doesn't know is that this act is only just beginning, and what he'll find when he arrives back at the colony will test everything he's learned so far since evolving.

* * *

In the colony, everyone has returned to the fountain plaza. The entire section of Pinwheel forest that was deemed to be "safe" by the colony elder has given false hopes and zero clues to anyone. Mint is nowhere to be found here, and the only option left is to expand the search into the forbidden zone. Everyone knows that once they go in, they might not come back since nobody knows what lies beyond the safe zone. For all they know, there could be Pokemon capable of ripping them all to shreds, killing them all in one fell swoop, just waiting for them to cross over.

Emilia addresses everyone, her voice, while still solid, is starting to carry a hopeless undertone to it. "We've combed every last blade of grass, overturned all the rocks, and searched through each bit of the safe zone. Pinwheel forest is massive as we all know, and although elder Naomi had warned us to never go into the forbidden zone, it seems we don't have a choice. Mint could be out there, and even if he's wounded, he still has to be rescued. I won't stand to see my son get killed. Even if he is a different color of fur then the rest of us, he's still a part of what we all are, a colony of Minccino."

She goes to say something else, but the sound of a spine chilling howl is heard by everyone. It sounds clear and close, and they all know that whatever it is, it isn't the howling of the Herdier and Stoutland from the colony in the distance. Whatever it was, was something far different, far aggressive, and far more dangerous than anything they've ever heard before in their lives.

* * *

**PD: THIS IS IT! The ending of this chapter is quite interesting and I will NOT say a single word about it! I think WE ALL know what's going to happen, and if not, you better believe this'll blow you away! With Mint sharing his life story and finally putting his trust into Fai, she sheds a new spark on the whole situation and with this new perspective, he's finally wiped away the doubt he has and made his decision on what he's going to do! I bet you can't wait for the next chapter, so I'll seeya when that gets put up!**


	26. Final Choice, Final Goodbye

**Final Choice, Final Goodbye**

"Fai! Fai!" yells Mint as he runs into the living room. He's made his decision and needs to tell her about what he plans to do. He stops in the middle of the room, in front of her TV. He looks around but doesn't find her anywhere in here. He has no idea of where she could've gone, but he knows that she probably didn't go far, she wouldn't just leave him all alone to do whatever he wants to do, he may be trustworthy in her eyes, but it's still her apartment and she's the one that calls the shots.

"_Crap! Where'd you go!? I gotta tell you so I can get outta here and go back! Every second I spend here gets me closer and closer to the end of the day!_" he thought to himself as he walked towards the window. He reaches it and takes a look outside, the only things he sees are the streets below, the people and Pokemon walking on the sidewalk below, and no sign of where she went.

He bounds away from the window and quickly thinks about where she could've gone. "_In her room maybe? I'll have to knock, I can't just barge in, she said I'm not allowed in there. If she's not in her room, then maybe she's outside once again…_" he says to himself. He walks over to the door that leads to her room. Unlike the other doors in the apartment, this one is painted black, white, and yellow. This color scheme is exactly like the colors on her body, why she decided to only paint her bedroom door and not the others is something he doesn't care to know.

He raises his left paw and knocks on the door a couple times, then waits. He stands there, bobbing up and down slightly, a bit impatient and raring to tell her so he can hightail it out of Castelia. Almost a minute goes by and the door doesn't open nor does he get a response from the other side, so he assumes she's not in there. He walks away and heads for the front door, turning the knob with his left paw, pushing it open, and being greeted by the somewhat unfriendly wind now blowing across the land. "Aww man! What's with this wind?" he says as he puts his right paw up in front of his face in response to the big gust that blasts its way at him. The wind calms down and he puts his paw down. Now that it's not howling, if she's nearby, she'll hear him call her name, so he does just that. "Fai! Are you out here!?" his voice echoes slightly.

"I'm here! C'mon up!" she says, but her voice seems to come from nowhere. He looks around for her but can't see her. She's not on the awning, nor does she seem to be below him.

"Where are you? I can't see you!" he yells.

"Climb the ladder that's next to the stairs! It'll bring you up to the small balcony that I have." she yells in response.

He looks to his left and next to the stairs is a ladder that goes up quite a bit. He goes to it and starts climbing it as fast as he can. About 30 seconds of climbing later, he manages to reach the top and now stands on a metal, scaffolding-like balcony that's almost on the roof of the building. The view from up here allows him to see not just the street and sidewalk below, but all of the ocean and a perfect view of both the Skyarrow bridge, and Pinwheel forest. Fai seems to have her arms leaning over the railing of the balcony, her hands dangling over. She's looking out over the ocean at something in the distance but it's not clear what she's exactly looking at. Mint walks up to her and stands next to her, for a few seconds, they both look out at the same thing, but since he came looking for her for a reason, she breaks the little silence that settled between them and asks him. "You were calling my name before, is there something you want to tell me?"

He looks her right in the eyes. "Y-yeah… It's about w-what we talked about from e-earlier."

She keeps her eyes locked with his. "I'm guessing you thought about it long and hard, otherwise you wouldn't be up here with me."

He nods. "I… I've made my decision."

She stays silent. She wants to know what he's thinking about doing. He starts to tell her. "If I w-were to tell myself back when I was a-about to run away from home, "You're going to meet someone that will tell you everything that you need to know, but they'll also show you what you already have." I w-would've looked at myself, laughed, and not believed a single word that I said. K-knowing what I know now, my past self would look l-like even more of a fool with that type of r-reaction…"

She nods. "It would sound like it."

He continues. "What you told me about the p-perspective that you had on my life story, it really changed how I saw those e-events. Sure, it hurt a lot… but t-that's beside the point. E-everything you said was t-true, I really wouldn't be here if it wasn't for what h-happened. I wouldn't be w-who I am today if I wasn't b-bullied and hurt. I have a lot to thank t-them for, because they helped shape me into m-myself, my personality."

She nods again. "Mhm… so you see it differently now?"

"Y-yes… it's because of you that I see it l-like this."

This slightly surprises her, but she couldn't say to herself that she wasn't expecting him to stay the same after such a long explanation. "I find it funny… After I told you that, I said to myself that you wouldn't change. You kept that life story locked up tight and were very secretive about it, I also have a feeling that you purposely watched what you said to avoid revealing anything about your life as well. With you being so stubborn about it, I felt that perhaps you wouldn't be able to see it in a different light. I'm clearly wrong about that after what you just said to me."

He smiles. "Well, it's a change that I'm glad I was able to undergo. I could also say the same about my evolution… I treated it as the worst thing ever when it first happened, but looking back on it now, I feel that maybe this is for the better as well. If I didn't evolve, I don't think I'd be standing next to you right now, which goes right back to what you said to me." he breaks eye contact and looks out across the ocean over at Pinwheel forest. He doesn't look at it for too long because to his east, he notices that the sky in this direction is nearly pitch black due to some extremely thick, heavy clouds looming in the distance. They seem to be fast approaching and whatever is coming along with them isn't fucking around.

He frowns, this storm isn't going to be snow, it's going be very heavy rain, thunder, and lightning alongside high winds. He can't stay here for too long, otherwise he'll have no chance of beating this thing out. He looks back at Fai, who is also looking at the clouds in that direction. "Doesn't look too good… Those clouds aren't the friendly type and I know which ones are friendly. We're gonna get a nasty fucking storm."

Mint's tone deepens slightly. "Y-yeah… speaking of that…" She turns to face him. "If it wasn't for y-you, I also wouldn't have ever seen that I-I had everything I wanted in my life. I came h-here for no reason in that sense, but i-if I didn't, we wouldn't have ever met."

She smiles. "That's true, and I kinda don't know how I'd feel knowing that. If I knew you existed and I wouldn't be able to meet you, knowing what I know about you now, I'd be a bit upset." she holds her hands in front of her body while saying this and she looks down a little.

He chuckles. "W-well, at least we ended up meeting each other." his tone lightens up. "You know, there's s-something that I was told by someone before I evolved, something that while I didn't really u-understand then, I fully understand the true meaning behind it now after everything that's h-happened."

She looks up at him. "What's that?"

He quotes elder Naomi. "**Life isn't always about those you've grown to know, but sometimes, it's about those you meet along the way.**" he then explains it. "It means that no matter what, the ones that you've lived with for your entire life won't always have the answer to the questions you have, it's the ones that you meet along the way that give you the answers to those questions… at least, that's how I see it." upon saying this, he catches the bright glow of the pendant around his neck from the bottom of his eye. He looks down at it. "If the pendant glows, then it also agrees. She agrees as well…"

Fai is a bit confused on who he's talking about. "Who do you mean "She"? Who's she?"

He chuckles. "I-it's not important… it's s-someone who's helped me in more ways than one over these last few days yet I didn't a-acknowledge that they were trying to help at all. As much as I would be w-willing to tell you about her, I can't. My time here is p-precious, and if I waste too much, I won't be able to beat out that storm."

She understands, and from this, she has an idea of what he's going to say. "I see… so I guess that means you're-"

He completes her sentence. "Going to head home. Y-yes."

She quickly gets upset and her tone reflects it. "I had a feeling…"

He smiles a little. "...I-I know you're probably upset about it… but, I have to go back. The life I-I want to live is waiting for me back a-at home, and I have to f-face whatever it is that's waiting for me when I return no matter what it is."

She nods and a couple tears begin to well up in her eyes. "I know… but it only feels like yesterday since I met you. I'm going to be a bit lonely again once you leave, and with Scott constantly traveling around Unova, I won't have anyone to talk to or see for a long time…"

He takes a deep breath that's audible to her. He enjoyed her company even though things have been rough, and the same can be said for her. She wasn't without problems, she had been beaten up and harassed by those Pokemon and if it wasn't for him, she would've been victim of something far worse. They've gone through it all together, and have grown a bit from it as well. The relationship they have with each other is more than amicable in every way. It's sad for both of them, but this is how it has to be. Mint knows that he has to go back, and if he could, deep down, he'd take her with him but this is impossible because she has a job and an apartment to maintain. He sighs and she does the same thing. They both look out across the ocean again, not saying anything. They want to enjoy these last few moments together because once Mint leaves, he'll probably not come back, at least, that's what Fai thinks.

2 minutes of more silence before he finally speaks up. "... I… I'm… I'm glad to have m-met you… y-you've been so nice a-and understanding of me… Y-you helped me so much…"

"I know, and you've helped me equally as much. I'm really going to miss you, I don't know how much I'll miss you, but I know it's going to be quite a bit." she stops, putting her hands together and looking down, her tears starting to drop and wet the ground below her. "I… I hope everything turns out the way you want it to, I know you said they might not be so welcoming, but you seem like you're going to face whatever it is with courage and take it on full force, so I hope things turn out okay…"

He notices that she's crying and this further upsets him, but he knows that it's not because of something bad, it's because she's probably not gonna see him again. For the first time, instead of it being her that initiates it, he gets close to her and wraps his arms around her, hugging her. While he's much more comfortable with her, he's still embarrassed by hugging her and his cheeks quickly grow a deep shade of red. This surprises her and her eyes widen a little in shock. She never expected him to do this but she gladly takes it and in response, she returns it and tightly hugs him. They stay like this for what feels like 5 minutes but a powerful gust of wind hits them and like a signal from the heavens, Mint takes this as a final warning of sorts to hurry up. He doesn't want to let go of her and a few tears form in his eyes as well, but he has to go. As much he doesn't want to, he has no choice and he slowly drops his arms. She does the same. They look into each other's eyes for the last time. Mint speaks, his tone quite upset now. "I… I have to go Fai… I won't forget what y-you've done for me…" he then breaks away from her and slowly starts to walk towards the ladder.

Fai holds her hands up to where her heart is and watches him slowly walk away. Before he reaches the ladder, she yells to him. "Mint! Stop!" she then runs up to him.

He turns around, a bit confused on why she'd stop him and she stops right in front of him, their mouths and faces literal inches away from each other. She speaks to him, tears rolling down her face. "W-wait… t-there's something I need to know…"

"W-what is it Fai?"

She taps her hands together. "Tell me… tell me where you live. You're heading back to your old home, and depending on where that is, I might be able to see you in the future."

"I live in Pinwheel forest… It's not that far from here…"

She looks over her shoulder and out over the ocean directly at the forest and her eyes widen a bit. "You're literally a simple glide away! I could easily visit you when I'm not busy!" her tone lightens up a bit, but she's still very upset. She grabs both of his paws. "I promise to visit you, I don't care what I have to do, but I'm going to keep that promise, okay?" He smiles and nods slightly. She lets his paw go and he begins to turn around but once again, she stops him. "Wait…" he looks back at her, now completely confused as to what she wants.

Their faces are still literal inches apart, and even though she'll be able to see him some day in the future, she doesn't know exactly when and because she doesn't want to let this opportunity pass by, she decides the time is now. "I… I have something to give you before you go…" she says a bit quieter than usual. Her cheeks quickly turn a deep shade of red and Mint becomes a bit curious.

"You have s-something for me?" he says, his tone curious and completely unaware of what she's about to do.

With no warning, she firmly presses her mouth up to his, giving him a kiss, something that nobody's ever done to him in his life besides his parents but the last time he was kissed by them was years ago. This kiss isn't a normal one either, it seems to have a bit of passion in it. Her eyes close but his don't and instead, they open as wide as they could possibly open and his heart starts to beat extremely fast. His entire face turns an extremely bright shade of red and all the thoughts in his head except for his decision completely disappear. This kiss from Fai doesn't last long, because she knows that he has to beat out the storm, and she pulls away after about 8 seconds. He looks at her, completely dumbfounded and she giggles at his reaction to it. This kiss has also awoken a strange feeling inside him and it slowly starts to take control.

Fai sees this and as much as she'd love to, she can't because he has to leave and she quickly becomes serious, reminding him of what he's racing against. "That's my way of saying thanks for everything you've done for me… but you need to hurry. That storm's coming fast and I don't think you'll want to be caught in the middle of it."

He shakes his head a couple times quickly to snap out of this strange new feeling he's slipped into and realizes that what she said is true. They share their true last look at each other before Mint turns around and instead of climbing down the ladder, he jumps off from the top. He lands on the ground with no issues, goes down the stairs, and once he reaches the bottom, he gets on all four of his paws and takes off running towards the Skyarrow bridge gate entrance. As he does, he hears Fai yelling to him. "Good luck Mint! I promise to visit you in the future!" she also waves him good-bye as well but he doesn't see this.

He wants to yell back to her, but because he's racing against the storm, he can't afford to waste more time. His face becomes covered a bit by a slightly dark shadow and his eyes become intense and serious. He's focused on getting back home and as he runs through the crowd of people to get to the bridge gate, the wind blows hard and violently. His fur fluffs are pushed to the side and his tail is also kicked out as the wind snags it and pushes it in the direction it's blowing in. As he runs closer and closer to the bridge entrance gate, another bad feeling starts to form inside him, not because of his choice to leave, but because of something else, something far more sinister.

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**PD: Sweet and adorable, right? I just had to make her do that before he left. Anyway, for anyone that guessed he would be leaving and going back home, you win... well... I dunno, a cookie or something? That's beside the point, Mint and Fai part ways and Mint now has to race against the storm and as you saw in the ending of the last chapter, something else that nobody could foresee coming... I hope you enjoyed and I'll Seeya in the second to last chapter of the story!**


	27. Calm Before The Storm, Colony In Danger

**PD: Just a heads up, this chapter has an optional theme, it's called "Dragon Ball Super - Formidable Foe Epic Rock Cover (long version)". When you see an "*" it's played and when you see an "**" it's stopped. I don't own the original version of this song or the rock cover.**

* * *

**Calm Before The Storm, A Colony In Danger**

The wind blows relentlessly across the Castelia City area, and as Mint exits the Skyarrow bridge entrance gate, he's faced with the long, daunting bridge once more. The wind blows his fur, fur fluffs, tail, and the end of his scarf to his right side and the bridge almost seems to sway slightly due to how strong these winds are. It doesn't matter, as long as he can outrun the storm and get home before it begins, everything will be fine and dandy. He takes a look to the east and makes a mental note of how close this wall of death is. In the time he spent with Fai, they've covered quite a large distance and if one were to estimate the time of its arrival, he has about roughly 20 minutes. Mint knows he can make it across the bridge in this time, but he'll have to run at top speed to make it and if he stops at any point while crossing, he'll get caught in the storm. He adjusts his scarf, takes a couple deep breaths, gets down on all four paws, and whispers to himself. "_I'm coming home guys, just give me 20 minutes to get across this bridge. Here I go!_" he then takes off running at his absolute max running speed. His own speed challenges the wind and creates resistance, yet it doesn't slow him down one bit.

The little tapping of his paws hitting the ground can barely be heard over the sound of the howling wind, and the sky above begins to slowly turn from light grey to a darker shade of grey. Mint runs under the archway supporting the suspension cables and he knows he's about a quarter of the way across the bridge. Below him, no cars, trucks, or buses in sight on the road below. Perhaps the bridge has been closed off to vehicles due to the impending storm, or perhaps when he decided to cross, not many people were going in and out of Castelia. This isn't important, what is important is the goal that's still quite far ahead of him. Behind him is the city whose buildings no longer speak to him. He's got all the knowledge he needs now and the only thing left for him to do it take said knowledge, and literally run with it.

Out of curiosity, he looks back and sees the massive city starting to get smaller and smaller with each step. His mind has no words for him to say because there really isn't anything for him to say as a parting gift to the city that opened his eyes. The once super tall buildings begin to look shorter and shorter, and the people and Pokemon on the streets are nothing more than specks of dust moving around a dirty floor. He turns back to look forwards and a gust of wind batters the bridge once more. This gust is so strong that it pushes Mint to the right side a little but he fights it and gets back into the middle of the walkway. He's not going to be stopped by anyone or anything no matter what it takes.

He's now at what can be considered the halfway mark and the faint sound of rolling thunder is heard. A few seconds later, a weak flash of light comes from the east and he looks towards the direction it came from. No doubt about it, that was a bolt of lightning and it serves as a very nasty reminder that he has to keep this pace otherwise he risks being caught in the storm. He doesn't stop and keeps trucking along. He can feel his muscles starting to tire out as well as his lungs asking for more air than he can supply, creating a sharp pain in his chest.

In the distance, not too far away, he can see the tops of the trees swaying and the leaves shaking with each gust of wind. Another flash of lightning from the east catches his eyes but this time, it's much brighter than before. The clouds above him are starting to become a very dark grey, nearly classifiable as black but not quite there yet. Along with this comes the steady change from simple overcast skies to light drizzle. The first few drops of rain fall around Mint and a few of them fall onto his fur, dampening the tiny spot it landed on and darkening it in the process.

Each step he takes kicks up a very small amount of dust and dirt that's collected on the walkway from all the people and Pokemon that walk to and from Castelia city. His feet dig into the walkway with each step and push him closer and closer to his home and the final act as well. He has no idea that his stay in Castelia had caused the entire colony to go looking for him. At this very moment in time, everyone is tired, a bit weak from all the searching, and very much vulnerable to anything that lurks in the forest… including those supposed vicious Pokemon that've been rumored to live deep within. If he knew what was about to happen, it's possible that he might be pushing his body past its physical limit in running speed. He doesn't think about anything, not even the chance of the colony being attacked by someone or something comes to mind. His entire attention is on getting home, no other thoughts exist in his mind besides this one and beating out the storm, which looks like he'll come close to doing. He might just be caught by the heavy rains starting just as he reaches the entrance to Pinwheel forest, either way, he's going to get wet and water never really hurt anyone let alone him of all Pokemon.

At the end of the walkway, he can see the start of the spiral leading down to the Pinwheel forest gate entrance. He's almost there but it still looks like it's very far away. He's made it to roughly the 3/4th's mark and the drizzle is starting to become more and more steady. The wind is as ruthless as ever and continues to batter the bridge and the land. With more raindrops falling, Mint's fur is starting to become dotted with spots of water thanks to these droplets falling on him. He can feel them and simply ignores it, his goal is in sight and as much as his body begs him to concede and drop to the ground out of breath, he forces himself to keep going. The sky above is now firmly in the territory of the color black, and it only seems to get darker and darker. A bright flash of lightning lights the world and 12 seconds after, rolling thunder of an incredible volume is heard for 4 seconds. Mint's parents had taught him when he was younger that if he ever wanted to figure out how far the center of a thunderstorm is from him, he should count how many seconds it takes for him to hear thunder after seeing a flash of lightning. In this case, only 12 miles and while that doesn't seem far, it'll be over him faster than he can comprehend it.

The final stretch, he enters the spiral and from here on out, he's pretty much made it back. The drizzle around him has now evolved into a steady, light rain that won't last for long before becoming very heavy. Another flash of lightning and rolling thunder as he spirals down towards the entrance gate. About a minute later, he enters the gate and finally, he can take a breather. He hunches over, begins to pant loudly, and places his paws where, anatomy wise, his thighs would be even though it doesn't look like he has any. He stays like this for a few minutes to let the strong feeling of fatigue and lightheadedness pass. He knows that the lightheaded feeling is probably because he ran top speed all the way from one end to the other end of a 1 mile long bridge, something that he's never done before.

Once this feeling passes by, he starts to walk out of the gate at a brisk pace and upon coming to the exit, he's met with the pouring rain. The small break he took was enough for the storm to completely catch and overtake his progress, but the point is that he got back home before this started to happen. He's won that battle, but the next battle he'll be fighting is merely moments ahead and just like he said to Fai, whatever welcoming party that he'll face upon stepping foot back in the colony, he'll face it with pride, courage, and take it on full force.

He looks out at the paved road that divides the forest in half. He still doesn't know if this road actually cuts through the middle of the forest or if that's just a rumor, but it's a pointless thought to worry about and he quickly gets back to what he was focused on. As he walks out into the rain, his fur immediately takes the brunt of each raindrop that falls over him. Even though the trees block out most of the rain, whatever gets caught on the leaves slides off and turns into a mini-waterfall, and anyone who dares walk under it will be soaked in the early winter, ice cold rain. Mint's used to this cold rain, he's sat out in it many times in the past and it simply reminds him of what he's returning to. It makes him crack a small smile as he walks down the side of the road, getting closer to the dirt path that will take him back home.

Small puddles of water sit in on the paved road, reflecting the darkened trees and sky above. Little ripples form on the surface with each raindrop that falls in, starting from where it landed, a small, little wave of water spreads out in all directions, then stops upon hitting the edge of the puddle. Mint's feet walk into these small puddles, splashing up a little water with each step. Walking through these puddles reminds him of how he used to jump and run through them when he was younger. It makes him feel happy, because he'll be able to do that once again when he arrives back at his den.

A bright flash of light and more thunder, except this clap of thunder doesn't roll, it roars and booms across the forest. Mint gets a slight chill running down his spine as he hears this type of thunder, he never liked it when he was younger, and even as an "adult" Minccino before he evolved, he still didn't like it. To this very day now as a Cinccino, he still hates this type of thunder, but hearing it reminds him of the days when he was younger, when he'd huddle up with his mom or dad and they'd tell him a story or two to keep him calm. It makes him feel nostalgic because when he walks into that den of his, he's going to be the one telling them the story of why he left and what made him come back.

He stops for a moment to take it all in, the calm before the storm as one would say. He looks to his right and the path leading back to his colony awaits him. Once he enters, whatever will happen to him will be set in stone and he'll accept it, even if it means the end of his own life. He turns back and looks down the road towards the Skyarrow bridge entrance. The soft glow of the light from inside is reflected through the drops of rain and every once in a while, the drops set up in such a way that the light reflects and gets right into Mint's eyes. It doesn't bother him, but he finds it somewhat pretty. The loud pitter-patter the rain makes drowns out the sounds of anything else. The sound is slightly different depending on what surface the drops hit and it transforms the forest into what feels like a completely different place just from this alone. He slowly turns around to face the path to his colony and he starts to walk down it. He's dead silent as he walks along this path and while something tells him that he should start running to get home faster, he doesn't want to because he's still a bit tired from running across the bridge. His fur is completely soaked now and since the path has many trees, there's tons of little waterfalls of ice cold water along the path that he simply walks through, further soaking his already dripping wet fur. The dirt path has transformed into more of a mud path due to how heavy the rain is and each step Mint takes makes his feet wade a little into this mud and while this would normally make him wanna clean himself off, he doesn't get this instinctive feeling.

The path is silent with the exception of the rain, thunder, and lightning. The wind seems to have calmed down a little bit, but it's still strong. The whole forest seems to be silent, Mint's ears don't pick up the sounds of other Pokemon from the nearby colonies and the only thing he hears besides the rain, is the gentle sound of his own breathing and the steps he takes in the mud. He continues to walk down the path, eventually coming to the fork that signifies that he's getting closer to his home. He's happy that he's almost there, but that bad feeling from earlier starts to rise up again for some strange reason. He looks down at the ground and notices that in the mud, there's a bunch of strange looking footprints that don't seem to belong to any of the Pokemon living nearby. He questions it. "_Whose footprints are these? They certainly don't belong to anyone in the colony nor do they belong to anyone from the colonies nearby, so who or what could've made these?"_ he stops and hunches over to take a closer look at the prints.

*****He holds his right paw out in front of him and turns it over to compare the prints to his own. He turns his paw back over, presses it into the mud, removes it and compares his fresh print to the one next to it. "_Not even close… these prints aren't from a Cinccino or a Minccino either…_" he says to himself quietly. He stands up and continues along the path, getting closer and closer to his home. Suddenly, out of nowhere, through the darkness of the storm and the heavy rain, he notices someone that seems to be limping. He starts to run over to them and as he gets closer, he notices that they're beat up, bleeding and seriously wounded. He recognizes who they are and his small sprint turns into a full blown run. He calls out to them, saying their name. "R-rachel!"

She hobbles, stumbles, and loses her balance but luckily, Mint is fast enough and manages to reach her and catches her before she falls. He helps her stand up and some of the blood on her fur gets on his, but it doesn't stay for long because the rain washes it away. She looks at him, very dazed and confused. "..Mint…? Is...is that you?" her voice sounds low, full of pain, and quite upset.

"Y-yeah, it's m-me! What the hell h-happened to you!?" he says, worried about what would cause her to be in such a condition. Looking at her body, starting with her face, it looks like someone scratched her and bit her real bad. There's cuts, bruises, and deep wounds all over it. Her arms, body, feet, and tail also exhibit similar wounds, but the worst part is that they all look fresh and are bleeding quite badly.

She coughs a couple times, and tries to firmly stand in place, but wobbles a little before steadying herself. She then explains. "..I...I don't know what they were, but while we were getting ready to head out… these weird, powerful Pokemon came from out of nowhere…" she's short of breath and loses her balance once again. She begins to stumble forward and Mint catches her, this time holding her by her paws to keep her from falling over. She continues. "...We're being attacked… I… I managed to escape but… they beat me up real bad in the process…"

Mint becomes extremely serious, he was expecting to come back to them getting ready to kill him or something, not this. He growls lowly in frustration before asking another question. "W-where's the others? Are they o-okay!?"

She shakes her head. "...I don't know… I… I think Wesley, Sean, Patricia, and a few others tried to fight them… I don't know if they're even alive now… those bastards kept yelling something about being hungry and wanting to eat…"

Mint's eyes become intense, a shadow falls over his face, completely darkening it thanks to already dark surroundings, and his tone changes into something that Rachel's never heard before. "...I suggest you h-hide somewhere… I don't w-want anyone else getting hurt… Y-you're already wounded, and I d-don't need you getting killed…"

She nods, and for the first time, she's never been more grateful to see him in her life. Her pained tone hides a happy undertone and she speaks. "...We've been looking all over for you… Guess it's better that you showed up late than never…" she coughs again and this time, she also spits up a little bit of blood. Whatever attacked her and the rest of the colony has to be real strong. She looks up at him, a small smile forming across her face. "I-I know… it isn't the best time to say this… but… I'm sorry… I'm sorry for everything I've done and said to you…" a few tears begin to form in her eyes. They mix with the rain and quickly roll down her beat, wounded, and cut up face.

Mint accepts her apology, but at the same time, he doesn't. "No… I'm the one who should be t-thanking you and all the others f-for what you've done…"

This confuses her, but because she's in so much pain, it's hard to tell. "...You… you are?"

"Yeah, y-you'll understand later… for now, go hide… I gotta g-go help the others…"

She nods. Mint lets go of her paws and she gets down on all fours and even though she's wounded, she quickly heads into the thick brush to hide. He watches as she disappears from sight and then he turns back down towards the path. Now, out of nowhere, he can hear the sounds of yelling, screaming, and pain. It's coming from the colony and Mint's heart sinks upon hearing this. The last thing he wanted to come back to would be his own deathbed, but this is the one thing that would be worse than that. While the others may not see it, his broad and new perspective of what they did to him makes him see them as not just friends, but family as well in some ways. They're all the same species of Pokemon, and like he's said in the past. "_If there's one thing I despise from the bottom of my heart, it's those who dare hurt the ones I love the most, be it friends, family, or even the enemies that bully me._" His mind fixates itself on this thought, and as he now makes haste down the path to enter the colony on all fours, the pendant around his neck begins to glow extremely bright, emit streaks of light, and radiate powerful sparkles. He's not about to let everyone suddenly be taken away from him for real, he didn't just come back home to see everyone die. "_Not today, I'm not gonna let this happen. They gave me the life I've wanted, and now I'm gonna pay them back in full. I won't allow this colony to die!_" he says to himself through his clenched teeth as his paws dig into the mud, kicking it up, and getting onto his stomach. This is it, the final act has begun and everything he's learned up to this point in time will be tested, but most importantly, will he be able to protect the ones he truly loves?******

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**PD: Here we go... no summary for this one... the next chapter brings it all together... Seeya in the final chapter...**


	28. Heart Set Ablaze, Save The Colony, Mint!

**PD: This is it! The final chapter and I bet you've all been waiting for this moment! Anyway, I'm giving you the biggest heads up ever for multiple things. First off, this chapter is the LONGEST one in the story, coming in at over 12k words, so make sure you're nice and cozy before you decide to tackle this monster. Second and last, there's MULTIPLE optional themes for this chapter, they're called:  
"Dragon Ball Super - Vegeta Royal Blue theme epic rock cover"  
"Dragon Ball Super - No more Epic Rock cover"  
"Dragon Ball Z Orchestra - Burn Up! A close, intense super-fierce battle!"  
"Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 - Dialga's Fight to the finish remix" **

**When you see a "*" the first theme is played and when you see "**" it's stopped. When you see a "***" the second theme is played and when you see a "****" it's stopped. when you see a "*****" the third theme is played and when you see "******" it's stopped, and finally, when you see a "*******" the fourth and final theme is played and when you see "********" it's stopped. PHEW, that was a lot, now, I hope you enjoy the final chapter of the story!**

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**Heart Set Ablaze, White-Hot Intense Battle! Save The Colony, Mint!**

The pouring rain pelts the entirety of Pinwheel forest, completely drowning out any and all sounds that a normal person could possibly hear, but the rain hides a deadly secret and deep within the forest, the sounds of screaming, yelling, fighting, and pain are heard. Three extremely bright flashes of lightning are seen, thunder exploding to life all around mere seconds after, and the wind becomes violent and relentless once again, blowing loose leaves off the trees. They instantly fall to the ground without a chance to take flight thanks to being soaked with water. Loose grass also gets swept up in the wind, but like the leaves, they don't go too far. The rainfall is now hard enough that it's impossible for even Pokemon with good eyesight in the dark to see more than 40 feet in front of them. The endless darkness above, the pure, pitch black void that seems to have swallowed the world up blocks out any and all sunlight from reaching the surface.

Most Pokemon would fear a storm such as this one, and common sense would say to hunker down and hope nothing bad happens while they wait it out. However, Mint was never "most Pokemon" at any point in his life, and after encountering Rachel in such a beat up state that could be potentially near death, he can't allow anything to stop him from protecting the ones that he's grown up alongside. Like Fai had said, if it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be who he is right now nor would he have ended up where he ended up in the first place. That different perspective… it's what fuels his desires and those he once hated from the bottom of his heart are now the ones he wants to save, even if they don't deserve it.

As Mint runs down the path to the colony on all four of his paws, they wade deeply into the loose, but thickening mud, kicking it up onto his stomach and even parts of his body that aren't even facing the ground like his back. The mud simply slides off thanks to a combination of water and oil on his fur. His face holds an expression like never before, his eyes contain a spark that shows he means business, and with every muscle in his body tensed up, he's ready to **kill** if need be. His mind is completely empty save for the thought of protecting everyone. Outside thoughts instantly disappear in the ever growing blaze that's burning inside of him, turning into nothing but long lost distractions as they approach the heat, succumbing to it instantaneously. His entire body temperature for that matter is rising rapidly, and the fluffs of fur coming from his head, his scarf, and his tail begin to turn that familiar red color. This rapid rise in temperature begins to heat his wet fur up, making the water temp rise as well. With each step that slams into the mud ladden path, the water begins to transform into a very fine, faintly visible steam. Even though the heavy rain continues to barrage him with ice cold water, it does nothing to drop his temp and it simply begins to evaporate on contact with his fur.

The colony is now just up ahead, and through the heavy rain he can just barely make out where his den is. There's no point going in there, his parents are probably trying to help defend the colony with everyone else and he would be wasting his time if his own home was empty. He ignores it and speeds on past it, coming to the very entrance of the main colony only 20 seconds later. He stops and stands up on his feet, taking in the now crystal clear sounds that he was hearing before. The screams seem to have hushed down into mere whimpers of fear and pain, the yelling has calmed down and low, gruff voices with the intent to intimidate are heard in its place. Just ahead of him, he can see dark shapes moving around… he can't make them out but he knows they're there. He tries to listen in to what they're saying but because of the heavy rain, it's very difficult to understand so instead of just standing there and allowing them to continue doing as they please, Mint folds his ears over, takes a massive breath, and points his head up to the sky, releasing a "Hyper Voice" that has a much more prominent echo than ever before, similar to when he fought the Garbodor and Krokorok. Coincidentally, a flash of lightning lights the colony for a microsecond as he uses the attack and rolling thunder follows nearly a second later.

The sound of his Hyper Voice explodes over the rolling thunder that attempts to hide it and the whole colony goes dead silent. The unintelligible voices hush themselves and the little whimpers of pain stop at once. Mint brings his head back down and looks straight ahead. The black shapes that he saw moments before turn around to face the sound that he created. He can't be sure that they're looking at him, but the feeling that someone's staring directly at him is more than enough for him to say that he's being looked at. Now that he's got their attention, he begins to walk forwards towards them. Each step he takes makes mud and water splash up a little, along with making a splashing sound to accompany it. As he gets closer to these shapes, their identity slowly becomes known to him and when he stops, he comes face to face with a group of 40 canine like Pokemon with pitch black fur and what looks like a strange skull on their head. They are known as Houndour and now that he's made his presence known to them, half the group faces him, while the other half is occupied with what looks to be the entire colony. From within the group, Ross and Emilia look at each other. They recognize the tone of voice just from the scream alone and they both think to themselves. "_Is that Mint?_"

One of the Houndour takes a few steps forward, water dripping off his chin. He snickers and then speaks. He thinks his voice would surely strike fear into the heart of this unwelcome visitor. "Well well well… what do we have here?" he then snickers once again. "A Cinccino with mint-green fur… I don't suppose you made that horrible scream, you don't look like someone who would be capable of emitting such a sound." he then chuckles a couple of times before giving Mint a sharp look.

He's not intimidated one bit at all by this Houndour, not even the other 19 that are looking at him make him worry at all. Houndour and their evolution are known to eat Pokemon like Minccino and Cinccino, so in some ways, they're considered predator Pokemon to them. Seeing as how this Houndour doesn't seem to know what he's dealing with, Mint decides to give him a smart-ass comeback. His tone is equal in tone to the Houndour, just to show that he isn't scared. "Wanna bet? How about I do it again?"

The Houndour snickers and chuckles once more. "Why? Are you afraid you didn't get your message across?" he says.

"No… my message was well received by all of you, but it seems you're the only one who doesn't understand, so let me say it once more…" he then folds his ears in, takes a massive breath, and lets loose his "Hyper Voice" right in the face of this Houndour. He takes the attack but it's overwhelming for him, something he wasn't expecting, and instead of walking away unscathed, the massive sound wave sweeps him off his feet and sends him into the mud a few feet away from Mint. He stops the attack and the forest goes quiet once more. Another flash of lightning but the thunder takes a bit longer to be heard this time. Mint speaks to this Houndour again. "Did you understand that?"

The Houndour, now partially covered in mud, stands up and growls. He runs up to Mint and bares his teeth at him but keeps about 8 feet between him and his adversary. All the other Houndour who saw this also go on the alert. The Houndour stares at him for a few more seconds, but then thinks of something and pieces it together. "Oh… I get it… you're the **elder** of this worthless colony. It makes sense, a Cinccino running a colony of Minccino, the lesser evolution following the greater evolution."

Mint's mouth turns into a frowning one and he sighs. "No, I'm not the elder of this colony, it hasn't had one for almost 19 years. I'm simply a member of this colony who evolved against my own will and ran away to avoid what I thought would be endless torture and hatred. I've come back after realizing something but that's not any of your concern. I may not be the elder, nor will I ever see myself as anything like that, but I've finally come home with a new perspective on my life."

Whispers from the group of Minccino can be heard now, and although the rain makes it impossible to understand what anyone was saying, it's loud enough for this Houndour to hear and he turns his head over towards the group and yells at them. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP RIGHT NOW OR WE'LL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!" The group falls silent and he turns back to Mint. He starts to growl lowly for a few seconds before speaking up again. "You… you're nothing but trouble…" he then turns his head to the right. "Boss! We got company!"

Another voice, super low and angry sounding, responds. "That better be a fucking joke… I heard everything that was said and you mean to tell me that you're unable to handle some stupid Cinccino?" he walks out of the darkness of a tree and reveals himself to be the evolution of Houndour, Houndoom. He has the same black fur as all the Houndour do but there's a few more differences. He has horns on his head and on his chest looks to be a skull. His back has little, rib like bones across his back and his tail is long and pointed at the end. He also has red eyes that seem to glow faintly in the darkness. He slowly walks through the group of Houndour and they move out of his way, letting him walk right up to Mint. He looks down at him and Mint looks up at him, there's a vast height difference between the two of them and if one didn't know, Houndoom seems like a giant compared to a Cinccino.

They both stare at each other for a very long time, a couple flashes of lightning and the sound of thunder rolling and booming across the forest set the stage for what's going to happen next. A powerful gust of wind kicks up and blows the rain hard, making it appear as if it was falling sideways. The wind also blows Mint's fur around. His fur fluffs, part of his scarf, and his tail are blown all the way to his right side. The only things on this Houndoom that's affected by the wind is his rather short fur, but it can barely be seen waving in the wind, and his tail, which is blown to the left. Both of these Pokemon are dripping wet, Mint less so thanks to his elevated body temperature slowly evaporating the water off his fur.

The Houndoom chuckles, then speaks. "Brave little rodent…" he starts to walk around Mint in a circle slowly, something that a predator does before they lunge for a killing blow on their prey. Mint eyes him down and keeps full eye contact as he does this. They keep talking. "If you say you're not the elder of this colony, then what exactly are you to these walking slabs of meat behind me?"

He responds with a monotonous voice. "Family."

This slightly surprises him. "Family? How so… you aren't a Minccino, and you have a completely different fur color that nobody has ever seen before. Are you a hybrid? Were you born because of a mistake in the genetics that make up what you were supposed to be? How can you call them family if you aren't even close to them at all?"

An insult, and quite a new one, but he's heard something like this before. It doesn't affect him and he simply answers with the knowledge he gained from Castelia city and a voice that's loud enough that'll allow everyone in the colony to hear him clearly. "I may be different, but I still had the same body features, fur length, and cry that each and every single one of them have. I might be vastly different compared to them now, but before all of this, I was just like them. We're all the same, each and every single one of us lives together here and we help and support each other to the best of our abilities." his voice slowly starts to merge with another voice, one that's vaguely familiar to everyone in the colony. "While some of us may live our lives by gathering, others live through hunting and fishing. Some trade, some stay at home, but the point is that no matter what, we're all in it together and if we were only helping ourselves, we'd have been dead a long time ago. We're all a family, and even if I have a different fur color or evolved into a completely different form, I'm still part of this family. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you have to be understanding of everyone and everything, we all have different perspectives and they aren't always going to line up with each other."

Another flash of lightning, it lights up both Mint's face and the face of the Houndoom. In this split second, from the corner of his eye, Mint can see that nearly everyone in the colony is looking at him, all beat up, bloody, and terribly pained but quite interested in what he's saying. He doesn't focus on them, but this little glimpse of how bad everyone's been hurt only adds more fuel to the fire burning within him, and it causes the red areas of his body to glow faintly. The pendant around his neck is glowing brighter than it has in the past, emitting many streaks of light and throwing sparkles that seem to crackle and snap with an energy that's unlike anything it's ever released before.

He continues to speak. "The Minccino colony that stands before me contains my entire life. Everything I've gone through, it all goes back to them. They bullied me, hurt me, insulted me, made me feel left out, distanced themselves from me and ignored my presence, beat me up even… but at the end of the day, I would always stand right back up and keep going, except I'd be stronger each time. If it wasn't for what they did, I wouldn't have the same personality that I've grown to have. If I wasn't born into this colony with mint-green fur, I wouldn't be Mint the Cinccino, which is exactly what I am right here and now! I wouldn't be standing here if everything that's happened to me since day 1 of my entire life didn't happen, things would be different and this colony might not even exist as well. I might be someone else, I could be a human, or one of you, or something from a far off world that hasn't been discovered yet. So when I say I'm not the elder of this colony and that we're all a family, I mean it because we've been through it all and if we're going to keep living, we have to continue to stick together as one!"

The Houndoom stares at him for a few more seconds, taking in everything he said. Most of what was said is utter nonsense to him, he doesn't care about it, but there's one thing he takes away from it, and that's Mint's name. "So, they call you Mint. Such a stupid name, but it's quite fitting for such a pathetic creature, it's a constant reminder of just exactly what you are." he stops for a moment, standing behind him. Mint keeps eye contact with this monster despite the fact that he could be attacked by one of the Houndour at any moment since he can't see what they're doing, but his peripheral vision is helping him here.

The Houndoom starts to circle him again slowly and continues to speak. "However, everything you've told me is useless. Maybe you are part of this family but I don't care. Say that's hypocritical since I asked the question, but it was a rhetorical one and I didn't want an answer anyway. What does matter is what you ended up interrupting."

Mint smirks and replies sarcastically, his voice no longer merged with that other one. "Oh I'm sorry, did I really interrupt something so important to you? Surely I just ended up coming back home…" his voice changes rapidly to be quite infuriated. "At the wrong time! What did I interrupt, huh? Because I saw someone on the way here who was beaten up, bloody, and possibly about to die, so answer me that, Houndoom who has yet to tell me their name!"

They look at him, confused for a second but then realizes who he's talking about. "Oh, that female Minccino who managed to get away. So she lived after all… Whatever. You want to know my name? Fair enough." his eyes suddenly start to glow brighter. "Why don't you just call me "Death", okay Mint? After all, once we finish what we started, none of you are gonna be alive."

Mint smirks once again, finding this name quite ironic. He knows that's not the Houndoom's real name, but he'll play this game for the sake of what he wants to say. "Death… you know, that's quite funny. I came back expecting the Minccino here to try and kill me because since I'm a Cinccino, our elder tradition applies to me and I'd become the new elder and since they all supposedly hate me, they'd probably want me dead so I wouldn't be able to get back at them for all the horrible things they've done to me."

The Houndoom finds this interesting. "You thought they were gonna kill you because of what you've become? What makes you think they're not going to do that if you all somehow survive?"

Mint closes his eyes, grabs the pendent around his neck with his left paw, and smiles. "I don't."

This makes them laugh for a few seconds. "If you can't even be sure that they won't kill you, then why return at all!? That's gotta be the stupidest-" Mint cuts him off.

"But I'm not worried. Whatever life has in store for me if we manage to survive all of this, I told myself that I'd face it with pride, courage, and I'd take it on full force no matter what it is." he says, his voice full of confidence, pride, and power.

*****The Houndoom is taken aback by this, he wasn't expecting such an answer. Mint opens his eyes and continues. "This is my home, the place I was born and raised in. I've gone through hell and back through all my 19 years of living in this world, and I'm not gonna let them go to waste. The Pokemon that I grew up with, my mother, father, bullies, enemies… I've got a lot of thanks to give to them. You already know why, but it's not enough. You predator Pokemon exist to eat, sleep, kill, reproduce, and then do it all again. Those who aren't strong enough to survive die off before they're given a chance to live their life thanks to Pokemon like you. I ran away from my home, tried to live a life I thought I never had but the truth was staring me in the face the entire time. My evolution scared me, but Castelia city enlightened me, and I realized I ran away from the life I had been wanting since day 1. I've come back to live that life to its fullest, I've come back to embrace what's rightfully mine and run with it, and most importantly, I've come back to face my fate and accept it with arms spread wide open!"

A second of silence and suddenly, screams of joy and happiness are heard coming from everyone. They all start calling out to him, praising him for what he said. They cheer for him, yell for him, and a shining star of hope is ignited within all the weak and bloody Minccino who thought their end was near. The Houndour and Houndoom all become confused by this, but this is only the beginning, because Mint isn't finished. "Now, everyone in this colony knows who I am, and I'm sure they all remember that out of all the traits that define me, there's one that sticks out like a sore thumb. One that they dare not attempt to play around with, because the unlucky fool who ends up doing that becomes the next thing helping the plants grow."

The Houndoom raises an eyebrow. "What are you rambling on about… Keep talking and I'll kill you where you stand!" he says as he ends up back in front of him.

Mint's prideful look doesn't let up. "That's fine with me. However, you should know what I'm talking about, because it'll probably help you sooner than you think. If there's one thing I despise the most, **It's those who go after my friends, family, and enemies with the intent to insult, hurt, or kill them**." his left paw tightens its grip on the pendant, completely covering it. Something interesting happens, and unlike last time when the white parts of his fur turned red, they only stayed red. This time, he begins to glow a faint, heavenly white color and the red fur fluffs, tail, and scarf begin to transform and turn into something even greater.

From within his body, the burning inferno is released and manifests itself into these areas of his body. His scarf becomes engulfed in red flames that instantly evaporate the rain falling around it. His fur fluffs and tail also become engulfed in red flames as well, becoming nothing but fire and burn brightly against the element known for dousing said flames. The water soaked fur of his instantly dries up and all the water evaporates, making a massive cloud of steam billow forth from him. Any and all drops of rain that land on him instantly evaporate on contact with a 'hissing' sound. The flames dance off his scarf, fur fluffs, and tail in a majestic fashion. He lets go of the pendant and it dangles around his neck, glowing at its maximum possible brightness, lighting up his entire face and stomach. The glow of the fires on his body lights up the surrounding area and reveals all of the Houndour and Houndoom. To complete the look, his heavenly faint glow is also accompanied by a sparkly aura emanating off his body similar to how elder Naomi had when he saw her back then.

The older, wiser Minccino in the group begin to whisper to each other upon seeing this transformation occur. They're a bit astonished at what they're seeing, but in their eyes, they see something very interesting that nobody else can see. Even though it's very hard to tell, they see that within Mint's soul, he's merged with Elder Naomi and she's given him her power to help him with what can only be assumed to be a long, bloody battle to save them all.

All the Houndour start to growl and bare their teeth at him, while the Houndoom becomes ever so slightly nervous. He clenches his teeth and then yells at him. "What the hell is this!? What kind of Cinccino are you!?"

Mint takes a few steps forward, a little water and mud splashing up with each step he takes, it instantly evaporating upon contact with his fur. The Houndoom and Houndour take a few steps back in response. Mint stops and looks at all of them, then answers the Houndoom's question. His voice now seems to have the same phenomenon it had when he fought the Garbodor and it echoes throughout the forest with that same white-hot force. "I'm not just any Cinccino... I'm Mint, a Cinccino who has a pure heart filled with love and kindness, and a spirit that burns with the power of our elder's soul! Prepare yourselves, because if you wanna feast on ANY of the Minccino in this colony tonight, **You're going to have to kill me FIRST!**"******

All the Houndour look at each other, a bit nervous but still ready to attack on command. The Houndoom growls loudly, then takes a few steps back behind his group of 40 Houndour, and then tells Mint something. "You must be really stupid… you're outnumbered 41 to 1, you have no chance even if you're using some weird soul power or whatever it is that you're using."

Mint's face becomes intense, before him stands exactly 40 Houndour. The Houndoom wasn't kidding around, but it doesn't matter, he knows he'll be putting them all into the ground at some point in the fight that's looming right in front of him. He swings his tail side to side and a nasty trail of flames follows its movement. He blinks a few times and twitches his ears quickly. He's ready for anything and the moment one of them moves will be the moment he whacks them in the face, and he's sure the rest will follow after him. All 40 Houndour stare at him simultaneously, growling and baring their teeth, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The Houndoom goes back to the tree he was hiding under before he was called out. He takes a deep breath and then releases it as a long, loud howl, a battle cry in that sense. All the Houndour tense their bodies up and prepare themselves to fight. The moment the howl ends, one of them lunges at Mint from the left. He sees this and doesn't move until the very last possible moment, and with what appears to be an impossible feat, jumps, does a backflip, and using the move "Tail Slap", whacks this Houndour's chin with a nasty blow, causing him to be knocked up into the air. A nasty trail of flames follows and from where the impact sight is, a plume of fire comes out upon his tail making contact.

*******All the other Houndour start barking and howling as the 1st member hits the ground and stands up, somehow burned from the attack and yelping from the damage it causes them. Mint lands on the ground and from behind, two more Houndour attempt to hit him, both using the move "Bite". The first Houndour also tries to pitch in and uses "Fire Fang". Mint hears the two behind him and quickly turns around to face them, putting his arms up to block this attack. Both Houndour bite his arms and latch onto him, but this proves to be a very bad thing because Mint uses their bodies and swings his arms around and manages to blast the first Houndour with his friends, making him fly back into the group, defeated.

The two Houndour that have a hold on Mint bite down on his arms even harder and the only thing that this does beside draw a bit of blood, is make him flinch slightly. In response, Mint puts both his arms out in front of him, folds his ears over, quickly inhales, and uses his "Hyper Voice". The massive sound wave at such a close range is detrimental to them and they immediately let go of him. Mint stops his attack early and uses the move "Rock Blast", pulling his fur fluffs forwards and throwing them at the two Houndour who are too dazed to react and do anything. The rock shaped fluffs covered in fire slam into them and instantly knock them out in one hit.

The other 37 Houndour now realize that Mint is much more capable than they thought, and half of them suddenly become nervous while the other half simply begins to bark and howl at him. With a break in their attacks, Mint decides to use "Focus Blast", putting his paws to his side and forming a blue sphere of energy in between them. He looks around quickly and waits for someone to attack. One of them attempts to come in from the air by jumping onto one of the dens and using that as a means of getting the advantage, but Mint's eyes snap right towards them and instead of successfully ambushing him, they're met with a nice Focus Blast thrown right at them with no chance to dodge it. It explodes on contact with them, making a big cloud of blue and black smoke and upon hitting the ground, they're also instantly knocked out.

All the Minccino in the colony start yelling and cheering him on, he's already defeated 4 of them and seemingly taken no damage in the process. Ironically, his bullies, the ones who he believed to hate him the most, yell above their fellow Minccino and what they say is something that Mint can completely understand.

"Kick these bastard's asses, Mint!"

"Beat them up! Show them what you're made of!"

"Make these fuckers pay for hurting us!"

"We believe in you Mint! Don't you lose to them!"

While it looks like he completely ignored what they've said, he hears them loud and clear. In his head, he's happy for the encouragement but he has to stay focused. Even with the power of Naomi beside him, he can still lose this battle. He scans the entire group of Houndour. Once again, they all stare, bark, and howl at him. They don't seem like they're eager to come at him so he decides to come to them. He runs at one of them, readying his flaming hot "Tail Slap" once again. This Houndour is a bit smarter though, and he attempts to use "Flamethrower" to stop him in his tracks. A massive gout of orangey-yellow flames comes from the Houndour's mouth and completely engulfs Mint, but it doesn't slow him down, in fact, he takes no damage from it and instead, breaks through the attack and with a nasty spin added to the attack, he slaps them across the face hard, another plume of flames coming from the impact. The attack isn't over, and as this Houndour recovers from the impact of the first hit, Mint slaps them again with his tail once more, sealing the knockout and defeating them without any problems. He stops his attack and now that he's in the group of Houndour, they think it's time to finally strike and beat him down. All at once, 9 Houndour come at him, using "Bite", "Fire Fang", "Flamethrower", and even "Crunch" but these all prove to be just as useless as all the other attacks launched at him earlier.

Mint dodges the two Houndour that use "Bite", causing them to miss and fall into the mud, he takes the flamethrower attack head on and grabs the Houndour using "Fire Fang" by his head with his right paw right before he manages to land his attack and simply throws him into the one that's using "Flamethrower", making their attack stop as he's interrupted by the body of his own ally crashing into him. He doesn't forget about the Houndour that's using "Crunch" and right before he manages to land his attack, Mint wraps his tail around the spot on his body that his foe was going to hit and instead of dealing damage upon biting down, the Houndour bites into the blazing flames and recoils back as it burns the inside of his mouth and damages him. This allows Mint to use "Hyper Voice" and at such a close range, it devastates them and makes them faint.

The 8 Houndour that didn't get knocked out come at him once again, but Mint turns around to face all of them and with a well timed "Iron Tail", he swings his flaming hot, Iron hard tail and hits them all, dealing great damage and knocking them back at once. All of them get burned by the intensely hot attack and run back into the group to recover in the rain, but sadly, because of how powerful the attack was, they end up fainting before having a chance to recover. Mint stands there, not a scratch on him minus the slightly bleeding bite marks on his arms. None of them have been able to do anything to him and as it currently stands, only 26 Houndour remain and he's still going strong.

The Houndoom watches all of this from the tree he's standing under and is starting to become worried. His pack should've won already but instead, they're getting beaten by some Cinccino who showed up to the scene unannounced. "_How is this happening!? It's just one fucking Cinccino! It can't be that hard to beat him!_" his mind screams as he's struck with awe at what he's witnessing with his own eyes.

Mint has the advantage, none of them can do anything to him and he knows it. The cheering and yelling from his friends, family, and bullies gets louder and louder with each Houndour he knocks out. The entire pack is now scared of Mint, if a group attack of 9 didn't work, they probably won't be able to do anything if they all attacked at once and they start to back away from him. The Houndoom sees this and barks angrily at them. "Don't just stand there! Our dinner is gonna be lost if we don't kill this fucker now! Gang up on him and don't give him the chance to fight back!"

They hear him but it doesn't put any of them at ease, and while hesitant, all 26 of them simultaneously decide to use their strongest attacks in an effort to end this. They all use the move "Inferno", making big red orbs of flames in their mouths, getting ready to launch the attack at Mint. When they're ready, they all launch the flaming orbs at the ground next to Mint's feet from all directions. The moment these orbs hit the ground, they explode into a massive column of flames that rotate around and engulf him, trapping him in the fiery vortex, at least, that's what it seems. The attack doesn't last long, but they don't know that Mint managed to jump real high into the air and avoid it at the last moment. He uses the move he made during the fight with the Garbodor, the "Flufferang", and pulls his fur fluffs forwards, creating two flaming boomerangs that he holds in both paws. While he's falling, he throws both of them at the same time and they fly towards the remaining Houndour in the pack.

Some of them try to avoid these flaming boomerangs, but the speed at which he threw them at is far too great for most of them to avoid, and as they leave flaming trails in their wake, they rip and tear through the pack, causing blood to fly as they enter their bodies on one side, and leave through the other. Some of them actually die in the process as these boomerangs pass through vital organs like the heart and lungs. Mint lands on the ground and catches the two flaming boomerangs upon landing, defeating and killing nearly the entire group, leaving only 5 Houndour left in the fight. They're heavily wounded and no longer a threat to him.

Mint turns around to face what's left of the pack and he gets into a ready pose with his boomerangs, awaiting one of them to attack but they all cower and start limping back from him. He smirks, he's got them on the ropes now and all he has to do is throw one of the boomerangs at them and the only one left will be the Houndoom. He takes a few steps forwards cautiously, making them limp back, fearful of what he'll do next. He takes this opportunity and throws the boomerang in his right paw at them. All 5 of these Houndour are in no shape to dodge this and the blindingly fast boomerang cuts through them a second time, killing them instantly, and putting an end to this pack of predators for good. However, Mint left himself wide open, and in the world of survival, the moment a Pokemon puts its guard down is the moment that they could be killed.********

The Houndoom runs from the shadows, using the move "Fire Fang" and unlike its lesser Houndour counterparts, it manages to bite down on Mint's right cheek and the hot fangs sink into his skin, wounding him. The sheer force and weight of the Houndoom makes him fall to the ground, where he starts bashing him with the other boomerang as hard as he can in an attempt to shake him off. This proves to be ineffective and the Houndoom is able to release his fangs and uses the move "Fire Blast" right in Mint's face.

He launches a small ember at him and jumps off before it makes contact. When it touches Mint's face, the ember explodes into a massive, star like pattern of flames that deal damage to him. It hurts quite a bit combined with the "Fire Fang" but it doesn't burn him luckily. Once the attack finishes, he stands up and wipes his right cheek with his right paw and sees the blood on it. Thanks to the heavy rain, it gets washed away quickly but it makes him quite angry. "_Bastard got a cheap shot on me… so that's how we're gonna fight?_" is what he thinks to himself as he drops the boomerang and bashes the ground a couple times with his tail. It kicks up some mud and water and he clenches his paws into fists.

The Houndoom chuckles, then speaks. "What's wrong? Never been in a battle for survival before? Any opportunity you have to weaken the opponent must be taken if you are to win.."

Mint speaks, his tone low and furious. "Figures you'd resort to something so dirty. Don't worry, I'm gonna make sure I pay you back with extra left over for you to play around with." In anger, he swings his tail back and forth constantly, leaving a trail of flames with each swing.

*********The two stare at each other, waiting for a move from either side. This staredown doesn't last long because Mint rushes for his opponent and they immediately rush for him as well. The Houndoom uses "Sucker Punch" as he approaches and readies a nasty punch shrouded in dark energy to get yet another free hit but because Mint expected him to do something like this, he uses his attack a bit earlier than intended and his flaming hot "Tail Slap" collides with the "Sucker Punch", making a plume of dirt and mud fly all over the place due to the transfer of energy between the two attacks. It doesn't end there, because they both follow their first attacks up with another. Mint quickly makes a blue sphere of energy in between his paws and launches his "Focus Blast" at his adversary. The Houndoom reacts with "Sludge Bomb" and fires a purple blast of sludge at the blue energy sphere from his mouth to counter it. The two attacks collide with each other, making a giant explosion of blue, black, and purple clouds. The resultant force pushes both of them away from each other and to opposite sides of the colony. It doesn't damage either of them and this is somewhat of a good thing for Mint but also bad at the same time.

He has no time to recover because the Houndoom comes at him using "Giga Impact" and with incredible speed, comes running at him while shrouded in a light purple light with yellow streaks coursing through his body. Without thinking and with a reaction speed much faster than even a Noctowl's eyes could follow, Mint retaliates and holds the attack at bay with "Iron Tail". The two attacks collide and like before, a massive plume of dirt and mud is launched all over due to the massive energy transfer between the attacks. Unlike last time however, The Houndoom attempts to overtake Mint's attack and tries to break through. Mint doesn't allow this and continues to hold him at bay with his tail. Sparks and flames fly as the two stay locked in this attack stalemate. With the Houndoom in such a close proximity, Mint is guaranteed to hit his "Focus Blast" so before they decide to retreat, Mint forms that blue sphere of energy in between his paws and quickly blasts it at the Houndoom's face, giving them no time to react.

The attack explodes in a cloud of blue and black, dealing extreme damage due to Houndoom being weak to it. He flies out of the cloud and hits the ground, sliding to a stop with a bit of scratches on his body. He growls and barks at Mint furiously, angry that he managed to stop his attack. He tries to use "Giga Impact" once again and this time, Mint sees it and decides to counter with his own "Giga Impact". The two Pokemon become shrouded in an invisible energy momentarily before a bright yellow flash appears in front of their faces for a split second. They then proceed to hurl themselves at each other and they become shrouded in an orb of light purple energy with a swirling streak of yellow light appearing around their bodies. The two fly at each other with such a great speed that it's nearly impossible to follow but they both make direct contact with each other, causing yet again, another explosion made of mud and dirt.

Unlike last time, this explosion is massive and makes it impossible for anyone to see what's going on. The Minccino group goes completely silent and the only sounds that are heard are the sounds of the heavy rain hitting the trees, the leaves, and the ground. A full minute goes by before the dust and dirt settles to reveal the two Pokemon have injured each other quite bad. They both took major damage from their attacks even though it was the same move. Mint stands up and his entire body except the parts that are on fire are now covered in scratches and a few lightly bleeding cuts. On his mouth is a small trail of blood leading to his chin and he pants a little while staring at his adversary. The Houndoom didn't fare any better when taking the attack head on either. He's got even more cuts and scratches now, and just like Mint, they're bleeding lightly. One of the horns on his head was partially broken in the process and blood is now coming from the area where the missing part of the horn would be, and just like Mint, he stands there staring at him, panting a little.

Because of the amount of energy required to use Giga Impact, the two Pokemon have to take a short while to rest and recover their energy. During this time, Mint's parents yell at him in the hopes that he'll hear him. "Mint! If that's really you, please be careful! The last thing we want is for you to die upon coming back home!" says Emilia. Ross, on the other hand, encourages him. "Keep it up, you're doing great! We all believe in you like the others said!" hearing them makes Mint turn his head towards them, and while he's a bit tired and damaged from the battle, he's nowhere near defeated yet.

This little distraction gives the Houndoom an opportunity to try and attack since he's able to move once again and he uses "Flame Charge", shrouding his entire body in a hot fire, and running at Mint with impressive speed. He turns his head to see this attack, but it's too late for him to react to it and the Houndoom smashes into him, sending him flying into the air where he flips over and manages to recover by landing on his feet. He slides to a stop, his right paw digging into the mud to help him stop and he looks up.

The Houndoom smirks and then uses "Faint Attack". He runs to Mint's right side and this makes him look in that direction. Suddenly, they disappear and this makes him become confused for a moment. He looks around for where they could've gone and suddenly, they reappear on his left side and with a punch, slugs him in his side and then hops away before Mint has a chance to react. The attack simply throws Mint off balance for a moment, otherwise it didn't do too much damage.

It wasn't the fault of his parents, he should've kept his eye on the opponent. He won't let this happen again since this attack has now made him feel a bit lightheaded. Should he take too many strong attacks from here on out, he'll definitely be defeated but if he's fast enough, he'll be able to defeat them first. The Houndoom can sense that Mint is starting to get weaker and he comments on it. "I can smell your blood and fatigue, little rodent… you can't keep this up forever."

Mint ignores him and prepares to go another round with him. This time, instead of simply allowing himself to be hit, he decides to use his high speed to his advantage. He uses the move "Double Team", gets on all four of his paws, and starts to run as fast as he can around the Houndoom. Eventually, he runs so fast that it looks like there's more than one of him running around at the same time, an illusion that he's created more copies of himself. With this illusion he can strike at any moment since the Houndoom has no idea where he'll be coming from.

The Houndoom looks back and forth at the illusory copies of Mint, not sure which of them is the real one. In response, he uses the move "Flamethrower" at one of the copies in the hopes that it would hit him, but the copy he attacked was an illusion and it disappears. The real Mint comes from behind, readying the move "Rock Blast". He pulls his fur fluffs forwards and they turn into hard stones, and with them in hand, he runs into the Houndoom's back with all his might. This knocks him off balance and onto the ground where Mint then throws the stones at him. A direct hit and it hits them in the face, but Rock Blast isn't over and Mint throws another set at him. The Houndoom recovers from the first set but at such a close range, it's impossible to avoid the attack and he takes another hit, this time square in his chest. In response, this causes him to cough up blood due to a couple broken ribs.

He falters back a few steps due to the impact and tries to counter using "Rock Smash" and as Mint launches a third set at him, he simply punches the rocks and they break apart instantly, avoiding all damage that would've been dealt, and thanks to "Flame Charge" granting a speed boost, he manages to close the distance between him and Mint in half a second. With all the power he has, he lands a very powerful punch directly at Mint's face before he can use his attack once more. The makes him stagger back and flinch. He walks a few steps back while grabbing his mouth with both paws. He removes them and spits something out of his mouth in response. On the mud is a dark red liquid that can only be blood. From the corners of his mouth, it seems that more blood is starting to trickle out, the "Rock Smash" attack made direct contact there and it might've wounded his gums or teeth.

This further angers Mint and he yells at the top of his lungs, his voice clearly exhibiting that strange double tone echo from earlier and with even higher speed than before, he gets right up in the Houndoom's face and with more power packed into it than earlier, he uses "Tail Slap". He jumps up at the Houndoom's face, a nasty gleam coming from his left eye in the process, and he swings his tail as fast and as hard as he can at them. He hits him square across the face but he's not close to being done. He continues to swing at him in all different directions, each hit making a plume of flames on contact, pushing this Houndoom back further and further. While he does this, he screams loudly and his voice echoes across the forest, being heard by all the Pokemon in the nearby colonies in the process. Mint hits the Houndoom 9 times before finishing up with his 10th hit that's significantly stronger than ever before. The force of the impact causes blood, spit, and water to fly, and sends the Houndoom straight into a nearby tree, making an indent when they actually hit it. Mint lands on the ground and waits for them to stand up.

The Houndoom pulls himself out from the tree, falls to the ground, and stands up, but not as fast as the last few times and struggles to get up in the process. He's starting to get weak as well and if Mint can land another attack like that, he'll have a chance to win. The Houndoom growls and then howls angrily. Their howl echoes through the forest just like Mint's voice did and when he stops howling, he sneakily uses the move "Foul Play", preparing to get hit by Mint's next attack so he can turn it against him and possibly turn the tables on the battle.

Mint doesn't know this and unknowingly runs up to them and right as they're about to grab them by their face and use "Wake-Up-Slap", The Houndoom jumps back and becomes shrouded in a purple and black aura before charging forwards and slamming into Mint. His own attack and strength are used and instead of being hit lightly, he's hit hard enough to the point that it causes him to be flipped over and he lands on the mud on his back. The Houndoom takes this new opportunity to use "Flare Blitz". He Howls and then shrouds himself in a fiery orange aura before taking off like a missile at Mint. He has no chance to react because as he gets up, he looks up to see the powerful attack coming right at him and there's nothing he can do about it.

**********The attack connects and a massive explosion of flames, dirt, and mud is created, covering the entire area and making it impossible to see what happened. Once again, the whole colony goes silent as they wait for the cloud to settle and when it does, Mint lies on the ground covered in mud, and dirt. He's heavily wounded and has many cuts, scrapes, and a few bruises as well. Some of these cuts are now bleeding a bit and on his face where his mouth is, is a couple streams of blood coming from the corners and going down to his chin. He's not defeated just yet, but if he takes another attack like that, he'll be done for good. The Houndoom, while dealing a hefty amount of damage to him, also took a very large amount of recoil damage from the attack and isn't looking any better. He slowly circles Mint, waiting for him to get up.

He slowly stands up, but struggles to do so. His intense look is not as intense as before and everyone can tell that he's very weak now. He's come this far, and he can't lose now, so, despite being in a large amount of pain, he forces himself to stand up and he locks eyes with the foe for one last round. The two look at each other, eyes dreary and weak, bodies battle worn and fatigued, spirits still standing strong. These next few moments will determine the fate of Mint's life, and the lives of those in the colony, and with this knowledge, he takes a deep breath, his lungs aching in pain from the attacks he's taken, and then exhales and among the pouring rain, booming thunder, and massive flashes of lightning, prepares to face his fate with every last bit of energy he's got left.

***********The Houndoom decides to go for the first attack, and surprisingly it's not some cheap shot for once. Seeing that if he fails to take Mint down now, he'll lose, so he goes to use his strongest Fire type move, "Overheat", in an attempt to finish him off. They open their mouth and a very bright whitish-blue ball of fire begins to form as they release all the latent firepower they have left from within their body, causing them to glow bright red.

It occurs to Mint that they're about to use their most powerful attack and even though he might be able to avoid it, in his current state, he might not be fast enough to react to it, so while it could be a very bad thing for him if it fails to defeat them, he decides to use "Hyper Beam". He puts his paws out in front of him, then brings them to his left side and angles his body a bit to face ever-so-slightly away from his opponent, and begins to charge a vibrant mint-green ball of extremely powerful energy in between his paws.

The two attacks grow in power and energy with each passing second and everyone that's cheering and rooting for Mint screams and yells at the top of their lungs for him to just release his attack and be done with it. He doesn't want to do it quite yet because he wants to make sure as much power is put into it as he can possibly get. After a few more seconds, the Houndoom laughs and then expels his attack and a massive blueish-white swirling blast of fire charges at him. Mint watches as this attack barrels towards him, but right as it gets close, he sees a weak point in the attack and with his own attack at maximum power, he aims right for this spot. He throws his paws forwards, and the mint-green ball of energy explodes forth into a massive beam of mint-green energy that's enveloped by white energy. It zaps forth towards the blast of fire and the two attacks collide with each other, lighting up the entire area around them.

This energy clash lasts for only a few seconds, because with Mint seeing the weak point in the Overheat attack, his Hyper Beam is able to break through and in a matter of mere seconds, wipes the attack away and heads straight for the Houndoom. Because they had no backup plan in the event something like this were to happen, they have nothing to counter this beam with and without any other choice, they take the attack head-on. They become completely surrounded by the energy beam and their body almost seems to distort and dissolve among the power of the attack, but Mint decides to take it one step further. He jumps into his own energy beam and it launches him at the Houndoom with breathtaking speed. As he gets closer and closer, he prepares his final Tail Slap to finish this off and end this nightmare forever. With the remaining energy he has after using Hyper Beam, he pours it into his flaming tail and upon coming right up to this Houndoom's face, he looks them in the eye, gives them a smile, and then spins his entire body around in a circle and whales them in the face with his final Tail Slap. The force sends them up into the air and the beam blasts him into a tree all the way on the opposite end of the colony. The attack ends and the Houndoom's body falls to the floor, he was annihilated and utterly defeated, and his limp body barely clings to consciousness.************

Mint lands on the ground near them, out of breath but victorious. He slowly walks over to the Houndoom and now that they're no longer a threat to him or the rest of the colony, he grabs him by his throat using his right paw and lifts him up off the ground. They open their eyes a little and see that he's right up in their face. He speaks to them for the last time with a tone that's so low that the strange echoey lower tone that accompanies it makes him sound like a real monster. "**Never come back again or else you will be the one to die.**" With the last bit of physical strength he has, he grunts and hurls them over his shoulder towards the path leading out of the colony. They fall on their face, but then manage to stand up and slowly make their way out of the colony, taking heed of what Mint said and with fear in their heart, limp their way down the path, hopefully back to where they came from.

Mint's flaming fur fluffs, scarf, and tail extinguish themselves and return to their normal white color as the pouring rain begins to slowly let up and the pitch black sky starts to slowly lighten up. The heavenly white glow and sparkly aura that surrounds him disappears and the extremely bright glow of his pendant dims down to a simple, yet warm glow while still radiating little sparkles. He takes very deep breaths as the pain and fatigue of this massive battle quickly overtakes him and settles in. He doesn't have any time to relax because almost immediately after this, a massive roar of joy, excitement, and happiness rises from everyone nearby and his parents come charging at him as if it was the first time they've seen him in months.

Emilia runs right up to him and tackles him into a hug, but he doesn't fall to the floor, luckily. She's in tears and her voice is all squeaky and difficult to understand. "Mint! Oh lord Arceus! Mint! My sweet, mint-green baby boy!" she can't keep going because the happiness and relief of her son finally coming back and saving them is too great and she whines and cries tears of joy.

Ross is also in tears but for a few different reasons. He runs up to him and also gets in on the hugging action. "My son! My handsome, kind, quiet, proud son…! I can't believe it! Not only are you home, but… but…" he also succumbs to the happiness and relief that he came back, but he's also so proud of him for what he's done, what he said, and what he's become. In his eyes, he looks and sounds like a completely different Pokemon and can only wonder just exactly what he went through to have a sudden change like that.

Mint embraces the tight hug his parents give him despite it hurting him a lot. A wide smile starts to etch itself on his face and he also starts to let tears fall from his eyes. He then notices the rest of the colony approaching. They all have smiles on their faces and without any words being exchanged between each other, He knows just how grateful they all are for what he's done. Through the crowd, his former bullies come through, including Rachel who ended up sneaking back into the colony when nobody was looking after Mint told her to go hide. They all come up to him and give him a rather guilty look except for Rachel.

Sean, Wesley, and Patricia all tell him the same thing. "Mint… we're sorry… we're so sorry for everything we've done to you… We… we missed you so much and thought you might never come back…"

This doesn't surprise him at all, and instead he shakes his head and chuckles while still smiling, then responds with a serene and happy tone. "No… I-I should be t-thanking you… I-If you guys never b-bullied me and d-did the things you did to m-me, I wouldn't be h-here right now. Y-you all helped shape me i-into who I am right now, a-and for that, I say t-thank you."

They all look at him with quite a bit of confusion, it doesn't make sense to them but Rachel steps in and explains it. "I get what he means… he's saying that if we didn't bully or hurt him, he wouldn't be Mint the Cinccino."

This makes them all suddenly understand it, but they don't quite see that they shouldn't apologize for it. "But we did so many terrible things to you! How can you be grateful for all the times we beat you up?" they ask.

He closes his eyes. "B-because I look at it in a different p-perspective now. I had everything I w-wanted, but not the versions of it t-that I thought I'd be able to get by l-leaving. Now, I have it all, I h-have everything I could ever want… I've come h-home and with it, I bring a new form of myself, one that's open to the whole r-rainbow of life."

They fall silent and smile in response. They barely understand it but just enough to know that he means something good and it's true. With the colony saved and everyone's lives protected, Mint's finally got what he's always wanted to have since the beginning: Appreciation, Love, and Acceptance. With everyone in high spirits and eternally grateful for what he did for them, it would seem that things could only go up from here on out. Mint had gone through it all, and even in his darkest hour, he still kept going despite the odds and missteps along the way. Leaving the forest, going to Castelia city, and meeting Fai made him doubt everything, and at the end of it all, he realized with a little help that he had ran away from the very thing he was searching for. Now back home, he can finally relax and have a long deserved rest.

The sky above clears away rapidly and as fast as the storm came is as fast as it leaves. The rain has stopped and above them now sits the crystal clear sky, painted a beautiful orange to signify that the sun is starting to set and the end of the day is drawing to a close. Reunited with his family and friends, Mint's journey is finally at it's end and with it comes an ending that he could never have foreseen the day he decided to run away from home. His parents stop hugging him and this allows him to look across the colony and everyone in it. He knows that even though he won't ever see himself as one, the next thing big thing to happen in his life would be the ceremony to celebrate the coming of the new colony elder. This is something he simply chuckles at, because at the end of the day, it's true. He's now the colony elder regardless of what he thinks and everyone's gonna be looking up to him for help and advice.

This thought makes him giggle a little and this makes his mother question him. "What's so funny, Mint?"

He looks at her with his slightly shimmering dark brown eyes. "It's nothing, I'm just thinking about what's going to happen once everyone fully recovers from the attack…"

She knows what he's talking about and she also laughs in response. Ross hears this and understands too. "Well, it's not like you have a choice, but I'd rather see my son lead us to glory rather than have nobody to lead us anywhere." he then pats Mint on the back a few times. "My son, the elder of our colony… I never thought I'd say that sentence in my life."

Through the crowd comes a familiar face, Brian. Unlike how he usually looks, when he looks at Mint, he gives him a smile and speaks up, his voice much softer than ever, making him sound weird and funny. "Well damn… if I knew a runt could get this far in life I would've taken back everything I've said about him…" he then bows for a second, then stands up straight. "Mint, I'm sorry I ever doubted your abilities and I'm also sorry for treating you like the shit out back for all these years… I hope there's no hard feelings."

He simply gives him a wide smile. "H-hey! Better a late apology then no apology!" he then turns to face the entire colony. "E-everyone, I know you p-probably don't think you deserve it, b-but I do… I forgive all of you for all the b-bad things that you've done to m-me in the past. Let tomorrow be a new b-beginning for all of us and hopefully w-we can all get along l-like elder Naomi always said we should focus on trying to d-do!" This causes everyone to cheer and scream in joy. They all seem to agree with what he said and while it's true that none of them deserve such forgiveness, being able to forgive is what makes one Pokemon different from the other, and if he's going to be the new elder, he has to be that way.

Mint smiles widely as the feeling of overwhelming happiness combines with the aching pains he feels throughout his body and as he holds paws with his parents, he hears a voice that's awfully familiar to him. "_Well done Mint… well done… never forget what you learned, the journey always leaves you with something to learn and reflect on. May the future be bright and full of love and happiness as you lead the colony. Always remember what you've been taught, and lead with a pure heart._" the voice echoes through the air, and although he doesn't respond to it, he knows that Elder Naomi is pleased with what he's learned and experienced.

The sound of his mother's voice calling him grabs his attention and he looks over at her. "Mint… you've had such a long day. Nobody knows where you were before all of this and after such a long battle, wouldn't you want to get some rest?"

He nods. "Y-yes… I'm in quite a lot of p-pain, and sleeping and relaxing sounds real n-nice…"

**END**

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**PD: That's the end of that! I had an absolutely AMAZING time writing this story and I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING IT! Really, it means a lot to me and I know that my work isn't going to waste! I really hope you enjoyed the entire story, it was quite a fun ride to write it and while some of you might be upset that it's all over, there MAY or may not be a sequel of sorts in the works... I don't know but if you want to find out, check my profile bio for updates on what I plan to do. ANYWAY, once again, THANKS SOOO MUCH FOR READING MY STORY! Check my profile out for the other stories that I've written or in the process of writing and I'll Seeya in the next story!**


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